


Prefects' Bath

by Rookowl55



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Eventual Smut, Fluff, M/M, Ravenclaw!Scorpius, Seventh year, Slytherin!Albus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-14
Updated: 2016-08-03
Packaged: 2018-05-26 16:05:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6246628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rookowl55/pseuds/Rookowl55
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scorpius Malfoy accidentally walks in on Albus Potter in the prefects' bath. After light teasing they decide to continually share the bathroom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Albus

**Author's Note:**

> All recognizable places and character belong to J.K. Rowling.

It seemed the only good thing about this year was going to be the newly acquired access to the prefects bathroom. Albus Potter let out a small groan as he slid into the pool like tub, relief filling him as the hot water slowly relaxed all his tense muscles. He couldn't believe that he had put off investigating this place for so long, that it had taken a devastating, rainy, five hour quidditch game to fully require the advanced bath.

He couldn't believe that he would go down as the Slytherin quidditch captain that had brought about the biggest defeat they had ever had. It wasn't his fault that he was the only returning member of his team, though it was his fault for who he chose as replacements. He didn't know how his team still sucked so much after a month of intense practicing. Sure most of the team was under the fourth year, but it shouldn't have mattered that much. His father had practically the same quidditch team his entire Hogwarts career and that didn't stop _them_ from winning at least a couple games. Just at the thought of how badly they had done Albus wanted to bang his head against the tiled edge of the tub.

"460 points!" he yelled out, taking advantage of the empty bathroom to get his rage out. "Fucking stupid Gryffindors taking advantage!" He pounded the water harshly, "460!"  He let out a scream and then submerged himself under water. He would stay under for as long as he could. He would drown himself if he had to. He'd rather take that then the letter he knew he was bound to get from his brother in the next coming days.

He launched himself out of the water with a gasp, sucking in a deep breath just so he could yell it back out.

"Bloody hell!"

Albus turned around quickly, looking up to see a soaking wet Scorpius Malfoy standing in the doorway, clutching at his chest as if he was having a heart attack.

"What do you want Malfoy."

"You nearly scared me to death! You know there's a way to lock the door right?"

"Yes, " Albus answered though he actually did not know. He stood, the water coming just over his waist, and crossed his arms, "But I doubted  I would be disturbed at such an hour. Again, what are you doing here Malfoy?"

"Prefect," Scorpius Malfoy said, pointing to the badge on his robes, "Baths," he pointed to the water, "One doesn't need to be a Ravenclaw to figure it out."

"Oh, right, well" Albus ran a hand through his hair, realizing now how obvious it was. He saw Scorpius Malfoy shiver a bit in the doorway, he saw once again that the boy was soaking wet, "Why are you so wet?"

"I think I'll just go,"

"No, no," Albus shook his head, "I probably shouldn't be left alone, you just walked in on me trying to drown myself."

"The loss wasn't that bad."

Albus gave him an incredulous look.

"Okay, okay, yeah it was bad."

Albus saw Scorpius Malfoy shiver again, "Shut the door, you're letting in a draft."

"You sure?"

"It's basically a pool, and like I said, I need someone to make sure I don't drown."

"Alright. Just turn around then."

"You do realize that we've got the same equipment and I change around most my team daily?" Albus laughed a little, but turned and sunk back into the water none the less.

"You never told me why you were wet," Albus asked again when Scorpius had eased himself into the water a couple feet away from him with a sigh.

"You were at your own game, were you not?" Scorpius rested his head against the tile, closing his eyes. His face looked different without the glasses he usually wore.  

"That ended an hour ago though."

Scorpius opened his eyes to look at Albus, his hands messing with the water at his sides. "Prefects usually stay behind to make sure that everyone gets back to the castle and makes sure that the stands are clean of most trash."

"Seriously? That must suck. Do you always show up late to your parties if you win then?"

"Yeah. It's worse when some of the prefects don't clean up, but at least my house takes the clean up seriously.   We were just really late today because the weather and all the Gryffindor's ditched. We let the Slytherins go because of the defeat and worked with the Hufflepuffs to clean up their side. "

"Well that's bullshit."

"It really is. Hold on a moment."  Scorpius dunked his head under water for a couple moments, "My ears were about to freeze off."

"Fucking Gryffindors."

"Tell me about it. It was pretty shitty of them to delay catching the snitch."

"Ugh, don't remind me!" Albus really did bang his head against the title this time. "I know for a fact that Locke saw it at least six times before she went for it! She was toying with Monroe the _entire_ time! Stupid 'on your left' shit."

"Is that what she was doing?"

"Yes! Monroe was complaining all about it. He's just a second year, where does she get off doing that?"

"No offence, but why did you pick him for your team?"

"He's pretty good in practice. Had a solid tryout. I think it was just rain and nerves. And fucking Locke! " Albus let out a frustrated scream and flopped under water again in frustration. He probably should have cared that he was losing his cool around Scorpius Malfoy, but he didn't. He had no reason to not trust the Ravenclaw and didn't think that anything that happened would get around the castle. That and the game was so horrendous that nobody could blame Albus for the way he was reacting if they ever did find out.

"I didn't think you were serious about the drowning part." Scorpius said when Albus emerged again. "Any longer and I would have pulled you up."

"I wasn't kidding."

Scorpius hummed and nodded. He relaxed back into the tile, closing his eyes again, "You know it started hailing when I headed back up to the castle. I got hit in the head by one the size of a snitch!"

"Oh you poor baby," Albus rolled his eyes, "That sounds so bad when compared to getting hit in the gut by a bludger."

"Ah, but I didn't sign up for hail, whereas you signed up for bludgers."

"No, I signed up for a beater who would stop bludgers."

"Are you telling me that your third year also had nerves and rain to blame?"

"No, my beaters actually are shit, but they were the only two who tried out." Albus folded his arms and relaxed against the tile. The continuous talk of quidditch was doing him no good.

"Have you walked in on anyone else?" Albus asked after a moment.

"Huh?"

"You've been a prefect since fifth year, so that's two whole years and the start of this one where you could have walked in on people. I find it hard to believe that I'd be the first one. "

"No, you're the second one," Scorpius said, "Most prefects know how to lock the door. It's the quidditch captains that don't figure it out. I'll show you before we leave so it doesn't happen again. "

"Who'd you walk in on then?" Albus asked, looking over at Scorpius, suppressed to see him turning red.

"Huffelpuff Captain."

"Oh Parish?" Albus started laughing, "What'd she do when she saw you?"

"No, no, not Parish," Scorpius said, going even redder, "It was my fifth year, so er, Harris. I don't think he saw me, he was, er, toweling off. "

"Are you going red Scorpius Malfoy?" Albus teased, all thoughts of quidditch forgotten. He hadn't seen the Ravenclaw flustered before. Frustrated, sure, N.E.W.T. classes did that easily enough, but he hadn't seen him red and embarrassed.  "You are!"

Scorpius hid his hands in his face. "My turn to drown," he muttered as he started to slip under the water.

"Oh no you don't!" Albus laughed as he moved over and gripped his arm to pull him back out of the water, "You can't hide from me when you've just gotten me into a decent mood!"

"Oh shut it," Scorpius tried to pull away, splashing at Albus as he did so. "He was a buff seventh year and I was a weak fifth year. I also didn't expect to walk in on anyone the first time I used the prefects bath. Like I said, there's a way to lock it! We were all told!"

"You'd think Boris would automatically lock it."

"No," Scorpius shook his head, "We've got the end of the year prefects party after exams. Couldn't do it if Boris only let one person in."

"Prefects have a pool party?" Albus had said disbelievingly.  

"What?" Scorpius finally managed to get his arm out of Albus' grasp. "We can't be stuck up do gooders all the time. We get a day off and pretend to be cool for a couple hours."

"I highly doubt Patil could ever be cool. "

"You've obviously never talked to Patil."

"Very true. I mean she's basically the girl version of you and you're turning out to be alright. Then again, why would I ever want to talk to a girl version of you?"

"Is that supposed to mean that you'd rather not talk to me at all?"

"Did I not just say that you were alright?" Albus grinned at him, pushing lightly at his shoulder. "it's more like why would I want the girl version when the boy version is much better."

Scorpius rolled his eyes at this but didn't say anything.

"So you had a thing for Harris then?" Albus continued, watching as Scorpius went red again, "Was it because he was a quidditch captain or because he was... how did you put it? Buff?" He grinned down at the Ravenclaw. 

"I didn't have a thing for Harris!"

"Sure sure. But if you did, then technically _I_ would fit that list wouldn't I?" Albus laughed as Scorpius turned red again and then escaped under water. It took almost a minute before Scorpius came back up.

"Trying to take a peak were you?"

"NO!" Scorpius hid his face in his hands and Albus laughed again.

"You know what," Albus said as he pulled himself out of the bath, "You don't have to answer me tonight. It's been a long day and I think both of us would like to get to bed." Albus didn't bother to hide anything as he made his way over to the towels and began to dry off. "Instead you can answer me on... Wednesday? That'll give you a couple days to think it over."

As he toweled off his hair he heard Scorpius get out of the water.  Waiting until the Ravenclaw was next to him and drying off as well, Albus wrapped the towel around his waist and smirked at him.  "Then, if it _is_ because you like buff quidditch players we could have another bath."

"I, er,"

"No no," Albus held up a hand, "Think it over."  Albus slipped on his robes and took out his wand to dry Scorpius'. Handing the now dry robes over to him, Albus said, "Have a good night Scorpius," then left.


	2. Scorpius

As he paced up and down the hallway, Scorpius swore Boris the Bewildered was starting to look more and more confused than usual. Briefly he wondered if Boris was just a password guardian or if he was like the gargoyles at the front of the school that could have simple conversations.

"Do you think I should go in?" He asked, pausing in front of the statue. Boris, however, was as confused as ever and gave no answer.

Scorpius went back to pacing as he pondered over his thoughts. Why was he even doing this? Albus had sent him an owl earlier that morning asking to meet up at eleven, an hour past curfew. He'd be better off actually going into the prefects' bath. At least then he wouldn't get caught by professors. He already knew that if he went back to the commons now the knocker would have  one of its more difficult questions, something it usually did to those who were out too late.

Yet Albus' words seemed to be the most difficult question he'd recently received. Not the question itself, as yes, Scorpius _did_ have a thing for Harris once upon a time and yes, it was because he was a buff quidditch player, which meant that technically yes, Albus fit that quota. But what would it mean if he agreed to it? What would it mean if Scorpius showed up for another joint bath, knowing full well that it answered all those questions for Albus? Was Albus just teasing him or was he actually interested? Did he even care if Albus was?

Scorpius didn't bother to ask himself if he was interested in Albus. He had done so just before bed after their first bath together and knew that he was interested, or at least interested enough to dwell over the questions that ran through his head and want some form of proper answer.

"I take it you're undecided?"

Scorpius nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the voice whisper behind him, hand reaching up to clutch at his chest.

"Will you stop doing that!" he hissed out, turning to glare at Albus.

His anger only grew as he saw the boy smirking at him. "No."  Then without any preamble Albus had laced his arm through Scorpius' and pulled him towards Boris.

"What are you doing! Let go of me!"  Scorpius attempted to pull his arm away from Albus but it was no use, the stupid Slytherin was gripping his arm so tightly that there would be no escape.

"Stop pulling and shut up. Tally's just a floor below. I had to take a back passage up here."

At those words Scorpius stopped pulling against Albus and worked with him to get into the prefects' bath. After Albus shut the door Scorpius turned the handle up to lock it.

Tally was the school caretaker and one thing she would never let slide was curfew breakers. She knew that rain brought mud, that peeves smashed things, and that sometimes kids messed up, but she never let being out of bed slide. One could show an 'O' marked essay and get out of a detention for most simple things, but if she caught you out of bed it would be a week of dusting the portraits.

"Great, just great." Scorpius muttered and took off his glasses to rub at his temples. "Who knows how long she'll be there!"

"Best bet is to wait until about two or so."

"That's three hours in a bathroom!"

"I know, good thing you've got a buff quidditch player to keep you company." 

He could feel himself starting to go red so instead of answering Albus, he walked over to the taps. "I'm just going to set it the way we usually do for pool parties then. That way we won't over heat  or anything in a hot tub."

"Oh so are we going to go skinny dipping?"

"Technically we already did that," Scorpius answered as coolly as he could, trying to ignore the crack in his voice at the first syllable.

"Tell me more about these pool parties."

Scorpius looked over at Albus to see that he was already stripped down and making his way into the half filled pool. Again he turned red and looked as he saw that Albus wasn't bothering to cover anything. "What do you want to know about them?"

"Anything you care to share."

"Alright, so um, they usually happen after the final exam or midterms just before holiday. Holiday we do a secret santa as well and that one is prefects only. " Scorpius paused as he took off his robes. "I'm looking forward to it already, though we don't pick santas until the end of November."  He took off his glasses and set them neatly over his clothes before making his way over to the tub.

"Is the end of term one not prefects only?"

Scorpius laughed as he got into the pool next to Albus. "Caught that bit did you?"

"I caught all of it, but that bit mainly."

"Right, well yes, the end of the year is prefects, quidditch captains, and their plus ones."

"So I'm already invited?"

"Yes, but don't tell the other captains about it. We like to surprise them."

"How so?"

"I'm not going to tell you. I've already said too much!" Scorpius laughed and splashed at him.

"You know I can just ask Parish. She was captain last year so she already knows."

"Parish is sworn to secrecy.  Even if she wasn't she wouldn't tell you anyway. Not only does she want every other captain to go what they all went through fairly, but she's also mad about your team's loss. Hufflepuff was going to have a good chance of winning this year, but already being 510 points down it's going to be a hard stretch for anyone to take the lead."

"She can just do the same thing the Gryffindor did. There is very little hope of my team even coming in third with only 50 points in at the moment."

"I doubt Parish would do that. I also know that Davidson isn't going to either. Instead he's focusing on defense and is going to try and make sure Gryffindor doesn't score at any of his games. "

Albus raised an eyebrow at this, "Should you really be telling me, Slytheirn captain, the goals for Ravenclaw team? Why does Davidson tell you these anyway?"

"I told you the strategy for  Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor, there's a difference.  Davidson tells me because I happen to be his roommate and can actually listen to his plans and do my homework at the same time. Mostly he just needs a rebound board. Half the time he forgets where he put his chasers mid play, I can remind him."

"So I could talk to you about my quidditch team if I wanted? And you would understand?"

"Just because I don't play doesn't mean I don't understand. I'm just one of the worst fliers imaginable."

"And now I get why you are attracted to quidditch players."

Scorpius splashed Albus at the comment.

"Admit I'm right!" Albus splashed water back at Scorpius.

"NEVER!" As Scorpius yelled, he used both hands to send the biggest wave of water over at Albus and then made his way to the other side of the pool as fast as he could.

Only halfway there Scorpius felt two arm wrapping around his waist. He didn't have much time to think before he was lifted into the air and then brought back down into the water. He felt Albus go down with him, forcing the two of them  to the bottom of the pool. Scorpius tried to kick and squirm away, but Albus' grip was tight. Rationally, Scorpius knew that he probably wouldn't be able to get out of his grasp, as Albus never even dropped a quaffle, but he still tried.

He was brought back up, Albus' arms still wrapped around him. "Admit it!"

"NO!" Scorpius wasn't even sure the word had completely escaped before he was thrown back in the water. Again he tried to escape, but it was harder this time as he had less breath. Both of them were brought up to the surface again, gasping for breaths.

"You like quidditch players! Quidditch _captains!"_ Albus sang, arms still not letting him go.

"No! I refuse!" Ready this time, Scorpius sucked in a breath before he was dunked back into the water. He made no attempt to struggle as they sunk down. It would be his will that stood strong. He could outsmart Albus. He felt a small loosening of grip as Albus brought them back to the surface.

"You like buff quidditch captains!" Albus sang again.

"Not on your life!" Again Scorpius sucked in a deep breath before submerging, again he made no struggle as they sank. Instead he waited, and when he felt it, that small slack in grip as Albus pushed off the bottom, Scorpius kicked and slipped out of Albus' grasp.

"Ha- HA!" Scorpius yelled as he came up out of the water a few feet away. "You can't hold me!"

"Yes I can!" Albus yelled and started to chase Scorpius, pulling at the water to give him some momentum. Scorpius didn't give him a chance as he started running from him. As Albus got closer, Scorpius dove forward and started to swim away from him.

"No fair!" Albus yelled, still running after him.

"Catch me if you can!"

It was a silly thing to say, and Scorpius knew it. Albus redoubled his efforts, running after Scorpius, nearly catching him many times. It wasn't long before Scorpius felt himself tire. With a small glance back he saw that Albus was nowhere nearing tiring. He was foolish to challenge a quidditch player who actually had stamina. It wouldn't be long before Albus caught him.

"Gotcha!" Albus yelled as he latched on to Scorpius' foot, yanking him back. "Admit that I'm right!"

"NO!" Scorpius laughed, sucking in water as he was thrown under.

He emerged coughing and laughing at the same time. "I give I give!" He laughed as he held up his hands.

"Admit it!"

Scorpius laughed and shook his head. "I already did!"

"I want to hear you say it."

"Fine," Scorpius laughed some more, feeling himself going red again and not from exhaustion. "I might just happen to like buff quidditch players."

"YES!" Albus jumped in the air, pumping his fist, before falling back into the water.

"Why do you even care?"

Albus rolled his eyes at this as he moved back to where they usually rested. "Take a wild guess."

"I think you're lying."

"No you don't"

"You don't even know what I think you're lying about."

"You don't think I'm lying" Albus sighed, "but that's okay, I always get what I want eventually."

Scorpius studied Albus, not bothering to hide it. The boy had rested his head back against the tile and closed his eyes. Scorpius had never really thought much of the slytherin. There we a few instances that they had interacted. Occasional partners in Herbology and other classes, once he had woken up the boy and saved his history of magic O.W.L. Nothing that would actually cause Albus to _like_ him.

"You're gonna have an aneurism. Just sit down."

Since he had nothing else to do and since he wasn't going to figure out Albus just by watching him in the bath, Scorpius moved forward and sat next to him.  He sat there for a while, mulling things over.

"What are you thinking for a career?"

"huh?"

Albus chuckled beside him, "Career, you know after Hogwarts and all."

"Oh, right. I'm applying to be a healer."

"That's very admirable. And pretty intense."

"Yep. You?"

"I'd like to play professional quidditch. Everyone say's I'll need a backup plan though."

"With your team, probably."

"HEY!" Albus splashed water at Scorpius. "I'm the only who gets to talk shit about my team!"

"You'll have to dump water on the entire school then. "

"And my siblings, but that's beside the point. I'm decent enough. The 50 points we made were by me and the progress the team will make over the year will also show, not only how good I am, but also how dedicated I am."

"I'm sure that's exactly how it works."

"It is! Well that and insistent pestering of the teams you want to be on. I knew not to let anyone come to this game, but I've got two scouts lined up for the next one. Also other players have scouts coming so that works in my favor as well."

"I'm sure if you really want it you'll make it. After all, you always get what I want."

"And don't forget it!"  Albus laughed.

The two lazed around a bit longer. Eventually Scorpius felt his hands prune up and decided it would be best to wash and get out of the water. Albus followed in suit. They continued talking, mostly about classes and quidditch, while they passed time.

After a while Scorpius looked at his golden watch, "It's a little after two."

"Guess that means it's safe to go." Albus stood up and offered a hand out to Scorpius. He took it and stood up himself.

"Listen, next week, Thursday, I'm having a practice specifically with my beaters."

"And you're telling me because?"

"Well I'm going to need a nice long soak afterwards aren't I? Also I'd like to prove to you I wasn't lying earlier."

"You never did ask me to clarify what I thought you were lying about."

"Well it's obvious isn't it?" Albus still had Scorpius' hand. Scorpius didn't protest. "You think I don't actually have an interest in cute Ravenclaw prefects," And in an action that Scorpius had never actually seen before, Albus brought their hands up to rest a small kiss on Scorpius' knuckles. "I'll see you later Scor."


	3. Albus

If there was a record for how many times one could be hit by a bludger in a single practice, Albus might have broken it.  Of course he had specifically told one beater to aim at him every time and the other to block it every time. It ended up being a game of cat and mouse, one beater always following him, the other always following the bludger.  It didn't matter how many times he had told them to act like it was an actual game, they clung to their targets, even though the rest of the team was there.

His preoccupation with the beaters however did mean that the other two chasers focused on passing to each other. Albus had seen that they both managed to score a handful of goals each and even their keeper had managed to block a couple.

He had promised his seeker a one on one practice in order to not let the snitch out and for him to pretend to be an opposing chaser. Ideally he would have preferred to share a practice with the Ravenclaw team or the Hufflepuff one, hell he'd even practice with the Gryffindor's they were so bad, so they could get a proper scrimmage going. However he wanted his team to have a bit more communication between them before he did anything like that.

The only thing that got him through this practice was the cushioning charm he had placed on the bludger and the thought of the bath he was going to have. He wouldn't lie to himself, Scorpius Malfoy had always been something that had interested him. In the beginning it was the fact that he was a Malfoy, he was forbidden. When his family talked about their days as kids, which was very seldom and only when  there was a large number of them, preferably drunk or buzzed, they always had stories of Draco Malfoy. He was always called Malfoy, the word spat out the same way any of his family would say 'git' or 'dung' or 'bastard', yet the trouble that happened because of Malfoy was always met with rounds of laughter that typically interrupted the story before it was finished.

On his first train ride his uncle Ron had pointed him out. "Malfoy's kid" his uncle had spat in voice that sounded like he meant to say 'the bastard's spawn'. Albus had looked over, expecting to see a stuck up nose or perfect blond hair and a constant sneer. He had seen none of those things though, instead he had seen a mother crouch down to hug the boy, he had seen a smile as the boy wrapped his arms around his father's waist, he has seen hair that stuck up in the back and curled slightly at the ends. He wondered if he would be saying the name 'Malfoy' as if it were synonymous with 'bastard' at the end of the year.

His family had been so entwined with Malfoy over their years Albus almost found it a shock that he wasn't developing anything more but a small anticipation as to what would happen if they met, which they never did. Scorpius Malfoy was always early to classes, always in the front, and hardly ever partnered with him. It wasn't until the end of the year when Scorpius had come in almost five minutes late to Herbology, his hair dripping on to his robes and glasses crooked, that they had any contact with each other.

Albus' usual partner, Davis, was nowhere to be found so Professor Longbottom, almost cringing as he did so, paired the two of them together.

"Potter," Scorpius Malfoy had said with a nod by way of greeting. He didn't say it with a hint of malice, like Albus had been expecting, nor did he say it like so many others did, with a hint of wonder about his family. No, Scorpius Malfoy had said 'Potter' as if it were nothing more than his name.

"Why are you all wet?" Albus had asked, suddenly interested in trying to figure out just who this Scorpius Malfoy was.

"I'd rather focus on Herbology if you don't mind." So they did, Albus knowing better than to ask too many questions about things people didn't want to talk about. He didn't remember what plant they had been working on, but he did remember that Professor Longbottom had asked to speak with Scorpius Malfoy at the end of the class. He remembered finding out Davis had missed class because Tally had found him flushing Scorpius' head down the toilet. He remembered the fight Davis and him had in the commons that day and how he had never partnered with him again.

His interest in Scorpius Malfoy had been just that for a while. Occasionally he would pass the Ravenclaw in the hallway and he would think about what the boy had done that day, how he wouldn't have any stories about a Malfoy the way his family did.

"He's very quiet" Rose had told him once when she caught him looking.

"How would you know?" Albus had shot back. He never denied anything that he was caught doing, he didn't bother asking who she was referring to when it was obvious.

"He sits next to me in Defense, and he's only a table away in potions." Rose was a Gryffindor and typically had classes with Scorpius when he didn't. She had the added bonus of trying to be top of the class and always sitting in the front as well. "All he does is take notes, answers a couple questions. I think Dad was wrong about him."

"I think our parents are wrong about a lot of things." It had been the best and worst thing to say at the moment. Worst, as it had started and argument between the two, which was almost nothing new as the bickered all the time in school. Best, as it had driven the conversation away from Scorpius Malfoy and never came back to ask why Albus was so interested in him.

There was nothing more than that. Occasional ponderings that flitted through his mind when he caught the boy doing something in the corner of his eye. Quidditch had taken over his second year and he was pretty horrible, which was what led him to be as patient as he was for the team that he had currently. Then school had taken over his thoughts. His mind flitted from one to the other, occasionally stopping to worry about friends that he had, enemies that he had made, and shameless flirting with boys that were so straight it was a laugh. Fifth year had brought around a real boyfriend that lasted for a solid seven months. He was year older than him and in Slytherin. Jeremy Green had taken up a lot of his thoughts in those seven months. If Albus was going to be honest Jeremy Green had taken up a lot of his thoughts for almost a year, including a couple weeks before they had gotten together, the tease before everything, and many many months after had had found Jeremy in bed with another boy.

It had happened at the worst and best time as well, just a month and a half before the O.W.L.s. Worst because Albus was a mess and couldn't go into the commons without worrying about seeing the boy, best because he spent most of his free time in the library driving the thoughts out of his mind by studying. It also had rekindled his interest in Scorpius Malfoy, who happened to frequent the library.

They were studying for their last O.W.L. of the year. Albus had been subconsciously picking tables that had Scorpius Malfoy in some sort of view. Just something to look at when he needed a break, he had told himself when he noticed what he had been doing.  He was in one of those breaks now, knowing that he could not cram another fact about the goblin rebellion of 1876, or was it of 1786, into his mind. He watched as Scorpius Malfoy pulled at his front hairs. Albus had noticed that he did that a lot when he was concentrating. He watched as Scorpius Malfoy had pulled the book so close to his face he disappeared.

How could he still be going? Albus thought, resting his hands over his closed book. How could he still be taking notes? Albus rested his head on his hands. Was that even History in his hands? Albus blinked.

Suddenly Scorpius Malfoy was shaking his shoulder. "Potter, wake up."

"Wha?"

"We've got History of Magic in ten minutes." Scorpius Malfoy shook him again, "Potter, you've got to get up. "

Albus lifted his head and worked his jaw a couple times. He could practically taste his breath. How long had he been asleep?

"Hold on, I've got..." Scorpius Malfoy trailed off and started digging into his bag, "Ah, yes, here you go." He produced two power bars in a shiny purple wrapping, handing one over to Albus and opening on for himself. "Mum sent me some a week ago. They're supposed to help you stay awake and focused. Natural enough not to be cheating, magical enough to actually work."

"Mmm, thanks," Albus barely registered opening the bar and eating the first couple of bites.

"I'll help you put up your books and then we can walk down to the Hall together, yeah?"

Albus was entirely awake by the time all his books were put away.

"You know," Albus had worked himself up to say the moment they had left the Library, "We could have easily been study buddies this whole time."

"I did notice that."

"Seems like a waste now. We didn't capitalize on it."

"Maybe for N.E.W.T.s then. If we end up taking the same subjects that is."

"Right. I'll hold you to that." Albus grinned, sad to see the Great Hall already coming into view. He checked his watch, they'd arrived just in time.

"I'll see you later Potter," Scorpius Malfoy had said before disappearing into the crowd. Albus wondered how he managed to still keep the word 'Potter' sounding like it was only a name, with almost no judgment behind it. As Albus sat down, he wondered what it would take for 'Potter' to become 'Albus' or 'Al' and if there would be any sort of inflection behind the name.

Now in the first half of their seventh year Albus wondered if he was going to figure out. It seemed weird to him, how every other encounter had his last name on Scorpius' lips at least once, yet the past two baths had not.

Perhaps the other boy was trying to figure out where the two stood. Albus had moved on from the last name after the end of the first bath, dubbed a nickname he had heard at the end of the last bath. He'd bring it up today, Albus resolved, if Scorpius indeed showed up.

Whether Scorpius showed up or not wasn't the only thing that was on Albus' mind, though it was the first. The second would be that he really did need a good soak. Trudging up five flights of stairs was doing absolutely nothing for his sore muscles which were already cramping. He would have to take an ice bath sometime this week, but not tonight.

As he got closer, Albus didn't even bother to wait for the Scorpius as he had original planned, hoping to scare the boy again. He thought it was cute how he always grabbed at his chest. Instead he went up to Boris the Bewildered and uttered the password, fully intent upon filling the water with mint and eucalyptus.

"Occupied"

Albus shook his head in surprise and tried the password again.

"I said occupied."

Then he remembered that Scorpius had said about people being able to lock the door. Had Scorpius come here early and then locked Albus out? No, he doubted that the boy would do that. Even if Scorpius didn't like him, Albus doubted that he would be that cruel.

"Well then," Albus sighed and sat on the opposite wall of Boris. He was going to get his bath today no matter how long he had to wait. He sighed and crossed his arms leaning his head back against the stone. He really hoped that he didn't have to wait that long.

Luckily he didn't as Rodger Davidson came strolling out of the bathroom minutes later.

"Oh good , Potter!" He said, a grin forming on his face. He didn't know why another quidditch captain would look at him and be happy at this moment, well unless it was the Gryffindor Captain.  "I was hoping that I wouldn't be waiting long, didn't mean to make you wait though."

Davidson reached out a hand to help Albus up, "Scorpius told me that he was supposed to meet you here tonight and he sent me since I was meaning to talk to you anyway."

"What?" The words just made Albus even more confused. He hadn't pegged Scorpius as the kind of person who would send others to break hearts, yet Davidson was too cheerful to be someone here to tell him to sod off. Why would Scorpius send Davidson then? And why did Davidson want to talk to him?

"Took to many bludgers to the head today did ya?" Davidson reached over and lightly knocked him on the head.  It was only years of knowing Davidson's lack of personal space and over enthusiasm, and Albus' lack of energy, that kept him from ducking away or knocking the hand to the side. "Scorpius said you needed his Creatures notes. I've got em' here somewhere." The boy went about digging in his bad.

"Huh? Oh, right, yeah." Albus didn't need Care of Magical Creatures notes as it were one of his best subjects. However it was one that they two of them shared that Davidson wasn't a part of. If that was the story that Scorpius had told Davidson, then Albus would go along with it.

"Ah got it!" Davidson pulled out an envelope that was sealed shut and handed it over to Albus.  "And what I wanted to talk about. Your team needs work, it does. I'd be willing to have a shared practice if you'd like. A scrimmage of sorts,  to warm us up for Hufflepuff. Not that it'd be any comparison really, but it would at least get a better practice in instead of just drills and shooting against me. "

"I was just thinking about that!" Albus grinned, glad that he wouldn't actually have to beg one of the other teams to practice with him. "It'd be great to have a couple joint practices, especially for my team.

"Glad to here it!" Davidson patted him on the shoulder rather roughly, causing Albus to groan. "You didn't just come from practice did you!?"

"Yeah, worked with the beaters mostly."

"Merlin's beard you do need a nice long soak then! No wonder you chose the bath as a meeting place!" Davidson laughed and shook his head. "I'll let you go then, and we can set up something for next week?"

"Sounds good."

"Right, have a good night Potter!" and Davidson left him, disappearing down the corridor. Albus just shook his head at the man and made his way into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him as he opened the letter.

_Albus,_

_I regret to inform you that an unexpected opportunity came up that I simply could not pass up. I'll be leaving shortly after lunch and have informed Rodger to give you my CoMC notes, which I've enclosed. Rodger knows my notes well enough to know I would be lying if I gave you one sheet of paper. You could probably use them anyway, as I noticed you don't seem to take as much as I do._

_I will be back late Sunday. Perhaps we can reschedule for then?_

_I must also say that my invitation does not mean anything about the words we last parted with. I do still think you are lying. I, however, find myself in such a position that I don't care that you are and would also like to be proven wrong for a change. Also, I've recently found long baths with company an enjoyment._

_I do hope to see you Sunday,_

_Scor_

Albus laughed as he read the letter again, laughed even more at just how _Scorpius_ the entire thing read. It was so formal and defensive, Albus wondered if this was even the first draft of the letter.

After reading the letter for a third time, he flipped it over, looking at the notes Scorpius provided. No, notes weren't a good enough word for what Scorpius had given him. There were notes on the lecture that was given, main points written in a different ink and underlined, banners made to signify a change in topic. The entire second page was a detailed and labeled drawing of the creature they had studied.

Class notes weren't the only things he had written down however. In the margins were other things that had happened. There was a joke that Rose had made about the feathers. There were many written complaints of how hot it was for October. There were quotes from classmates that Scorpius had found interesting enough to write down. Every so often there were blotches of scratched out notes, leaving only the tips and loops of the words visible, an entire 'e' at the end of one was missed.

This must be how Scorpius got through classes and studying, Albus thought. He flipped through the pages, finding the corners numbered, finding doodles of pumpkins and leaves where there was space. Scorpius, it looked like, never stopped writing once he had a pen in his hand. Albus thought back to all the classes he had with Scorpius, laughing some more as every image he had of Scorpius in class had a quill in his hand.

With a final chuckle, Albus folded up the notes and put them in his bag. He would read over them more before he went to bed and perhaps over the weekend. Right now he needed a bath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I had originally written this I had just finished "Dream Thieves" and I really enjoyed Ronan's narrative style and played with that a bit.


	4. Scorpius

Scorpius still could not believe that he had written that letter to Albus and then had Rodger deliver it for him. However when Professor Splint had approached him about the three day conference at St. Mungos, Scorpius couldn't refuse.

He had left Thursday after lunch to get a room with Charlotte Higgs, a Hufflepuff girl who was also interested in becoming a healer, and sign up for the conference. Then he spent the better part of the next three days going from booth to booth about the latest medical advances and ongoing research, sitting in lectures about battles on mental disease.  He took notes upon notes about advances in basic potions and trials of new potions that he couldn't wait to test himself.

Yet when he got back to Hogwarts Sunday night he didn't bother to organize his notes nor did he rush down to the potions lab. Instead Scorpius threw his things rather haphazardly onto his bed and made his way towards the prefects' bathroom.

Scorpius was disappointed to see that Albus wasn't already there waiting for him, having constantly thought about what exactly would happen when he arrived back whenever his mind wasn't engrossed in the conference. With a glance at his watch Scorpius saw that there was still half an hour left for dinner. They had arrived back at Hogwarts ahead of schedule apparently. Resigning himself to fill the bath and wait a while, Scorpius busied himself with getting everything set up, doing his best not to get more and more nervous as time went on. 

Just as the bath had filled entirely, the door opened and Albus walked in.

"Good evening Scor," Albus grinned at him as he walked in, his tie already hung loose around his neck.

"Albus," Scorpius nodded his head in return, trying to ignore the way the boy's face lit up.

"Where did you end up going?"

"St. Mungos was having a conference for new advances. Professor Splint was able to get Higgs and I passes and excused us from out Friday classes. It was wonderful and..." Scorpius trailed off when he saw that Albus was looking at him oddly, "What?"

"Nothing," the boy shook his head and then went to take off his clothing.

"Can you promise not to splash me today?" Scorpius asked, taking off his robes as well.  

"And why would I do something like that?"

"My eyes are tired. I'd rather not strain them more by taking off my glasses."

"I suppose I can try," Albus drawled out, "But I make no promises."

Scorpius let out a chuckled and kept his glasses on as he made his way over and into the tub.

"So how was the conference?" Albus asked after he settled in next to him.

"Oh it was amazing! There was an advancement on Alzheimer's that has successfully extended patients' lucid time so long as they took it as soon as they started coming back to themselves. You know, mind diseases are tricky, but I reckon there will be some form of cure by the time we're old and senile.  Then there was this super effective acne solution that I've gotten the notes for. An update to the drought of living death that makes the potion much easier to brew and also have a quicker effect.  They also brought in a couple muggle things for show. A bunch of the healers were muggleborn and were used to the devices, there were even two that actually went to muggle medical school! Anyway there was this thing there called and MRI that produced a stable picture of the brain! Can you believe that Albus? Muggles actually look at the brain and have also figured out a way to show where certain thoughts and feelings originate from. I've even got a picture of my brain up in my rooms. I should have..." He trailed off when he caught Albus looking at him again.

"What is it? Do I have something on my face?" Scorpius asked, his hands automatically reaching up to rub his entire face clean.

"No, no," Albus reached forward and grabbed both of Scorpius' hands, "You just, you light up when you talk about this stuff."

"Oh," Scorpius could feel himself going red again and attempted to pull his hands away from Albus.

"It's not a bad thing, I don't think I've ever seen you so," Albus trailed off, let go of Scorpius' hands, and shrugged, "It's just nice is all. Tell me more about it."

So Scorpius did. He started slowly, still a bit embarrassed at Albus' observation, but eventually regained his initial enthusiasm as he went on.  He told Albus about all the advancements that happened in the past year. He talked about the people he had met and the likelihood about getting sponsors for a couple healer programs. He recounted jokes that Albus only halfway understood, causing Scorpius to laugh even harder as he tried to explain them. He told him that on his first day there he had been so nervous he just sat with the receptionists at lunch and was able to hear all the best stories they had. All the while Albus just listened and stared at him, occasionally adding in comments to things that did catch his interest. Sometimes Albus would flick small bits of water at him, but only when Scorpius' own hand movements caused Albus to get splashed.

"And that was my weekend," Scorpius finished a bit lamely, still smiling at the boy next to him. He couldn't remember the last time he had talked like that, with such abandon.

"A rather eventful weekend, and I'm sure that you've gotten notebooks full of things you haven't told me."

"Oh definitely," Scorpius nodded and then felt himself redden a little. "Did you find my notes useful then?"

"I did," Albus said honestly. "They were so useful I hardly had to look at my book at all as I wrote the two feet of homework. I might just stop taking notes all together and use yours from now on."

"Oh no you won't" Scorpius poked Albus in the chest, "The only way you'll get my notes is if I've seen yours first and deem them decent enough.

"Are you saying you'll show me yours if I show you mine first?" Albus asked innocently.

"Yes, wait, no, not like that you gutter brain!"

Albus just rolled his eyes and laughed with Scorpius, "But if we both take notes, that would just be a waste of parchment."

"No it wouldn't. You're notes would probably hold more big picture ideas and things one would certainly need to know, whereas mine would have the smaller bits that would help out a basic thesis. Besides, you can't rely on me."

"Is that so?" Albus asked, raising his eyebrows, "Are you going to betray me? Is all this a ruse?"

"NO!" Scorpius said a bit too loudly and a bit too quickly. "I just mean that you shouldn't rely on others ever. My father says that if someone can't fend for themselves then they are useless. I think he's a bit wrong, of course, but his words do have some merit. If someone _chooses_ not to fend for themselves then there is a difference. But that's beside the point."

"Are you close with our father?"

Scorpius paused before he answered. He could hear something more behind the words there, especially as it was a tangent topic. He answered honestly, wondering why Albus was curious about this. "Yes, we talk often. Most of the time we have debates, though half the time I think my father chooses the other side because he likes arguing and wants to see if I'll fold under his ideas." He let out a small breath that could be mistaken for a laugh. "Are you close with your father?"

"Of course," Albus said rather defensively, "I don't debate with him, he doesn't talk much. Mum does though."

Scorpius brushed his hand lightly against Albus' once, "Tell me about your family."

This seemed to be the wrong thing to ask, however, as Albus pulled away from him slightly and looked at the water.

"I've got a lot of family." He said eventually, pushing off the tile and moving deeper into the tub. "And it's getting late. Perhaps another time would be better."

"Albus, you don't-" Scorpius broke off and sighed as Albus dunked himself under water. Scorpius didn't understand. The Potters and Weasleys were supposed to be the perfect family. He had heard his father rant about it, had read the prophet, had seen the ones that were at school meet up once a month for a giant picnic. He had seen the way Albus talked to his sister with nothing but love and care in his voice.

Albus emerged from the water then. Much closer to the taps than from where he went under. He had a passive look on his face, as if he were trying his best not to think as filled his hands with soap and started washing his hair.

Scorpius didn't know what to do, so he made his way over to the taps as well, took off his glasses, and washed his hair as well. He watched Albus, looking for any sign of what it was about his family that closed him off.

"Stop it," Albus breathed out.

"What?"

"I'm not a," Albus sighed, "I'm not a problem that you can study and attempt to solve."

"That's not-"

"Yes," Albus' tone was flat, "Yes, you are." He dunked his head underwater to clear the suds.

Scorpius rose an eyebrow, but turned away from him. He supposed it wasn't his problem anyway. If Albus wanted to tell him, he would. Scorpius felt odd as he washed and rinsed his hair and as the two dried off. There had been little pause in talk during their bath, now it was basically silent.

It was Albus who spoke first as they started to pull on their robes, "You had a couple of scratched out notes."

"Yes?" Scorpius faltered slightly with his buttons.

"Well what were they?"

Scorpius could feel his face going red again. He really needed to learn how to control his blush, especially around Albus   "Just observations about the class."

"Odd, as there were many of those that weren't scratched out. And because you're going red again."

Scorpius looked up at Albus. There was a small hint of the usual Albus there, trying to get out of whatever it was that had clouded him earlier. He blamed that for what he said next.

"They were observations about a particular person in the class."

"Oh," Albus grunted and attacked his hair again with a towel.

"Yeah," Scorpius fiddled with his glasses, attempting to clean them with the sleeve of his robes. "They were about you."

"Oh?" Now it was the Slytheirn's turn to blush. Then out of the corner of Scorpius' eye he saw the boy smile, "And just what was it that you had written that you felt the need to scratch it out."

"Nothing."

"I think you're lying."

"I don't care what you think." Both of them grinned as they remembered the last bath they shared.

"I think you do."

"I only care about what I think."

Albus smirked at Scorpius' response, "Well I certainly care about what you think as well, though I wouldn't say it's the only thing." Albus paused for a moment, pulling at the sleeves of his robes, "Would it be too much to ask for another bath this week?"

Scorpius reached forward and grabbed one of Albus' hands. "No, it wouldn't be."

"Good." Albus squeezed Scorpius' hand, " Friday?"

"Friday." Scorpius squeezed back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The angst was not planned at all... Then again, I've never been able to write something that doesn't have some sort of angst. 
> 
> My updates might come a bit slower as I've started another class at school. I will try my best to keep it at least once a week.


	5. Albus

After tossing about in his bed for an hour, Albus sighed, got out of bed and made his way down to the common room. Plopping himself on the couch in front of the fire, he stretched out and looked up at the ornate ceiling.  It was his favorite thing about the Slytherin common room. It was a massive story told in pictures about some leader in the wizarding world. Every week or so the story changed to a different figure. This week it was of Salazar Slytherin himself.  This story cropped up in the rotation often and was always the first story of the year.

He had read it enough times over his years to not feel the need to slowly make his way around the common room to view the entire story. However,  he needed to clear his mind some and focused on the part directly above him. It was when Salazar Slytherin and  Godric Gryffindor met. He looked over the pictures of how Salazar was fighting a werewolf and losing. It was just before Salazar would have to admit defeat when Godric came in and killed the werewolf with his sword. It was a rather graphic picture that still caused his stomach to turn.

With a sigh, Albus closed his eyes and pulled at his hair in frustration. As he did so the minty smell of the bath reached his nose and he was instantly reminded of Scorpius and the night they had just shared. He really was starting to genuinely like the Ravenclaw. He enjoyed the way his eyes had lit up when he talked about the convention he went to, the way he had gotten so caught up in his story that his hands moved and his voice put emphasis on certain words.

Then he had to mess it all up. Albus pulled at his hair again in frustration. He just had to mention something about Scorpius' father, knowing full well that it would bring up his own family. It wasn't that he didn't _like_ his family, it wasn't as if he had a bad childhood or anything he could really complain about really. His family just didn't _understand_ him.

The picture of the werewolf attacking Salazar stared down at him, looking as if his intent was to leap over the founder of the school and attack Albus instead. Albus turned to face the fire.

His father was okay, but he was misguided. His father said things about the world that Albus wished were true but knew were not. He did not have his father's optimism nor did he have his father's trust in people. Albus hadn't realized until he had arrived at Hogwarts, until the hat was placed upon his head and claimed that his ambition put all other houses out of the running. Albus had argued, his father had said that if he _asked_ the hat he could go where he wanted. He couldn't be in Slytherin, he wanted to be in Gryffindor with his family. The hat simply told him to talk to his godfather about sorting choices and then placed him in Slytherin.

He sat next to his cousin Molly, the only other Slytherin in their family. In her seventh year, she was able to tell Albus just what to expect when it came to Slytherins and her family.  "I've got it a bit easier," she had told him, "My mum was a Ravenclaw and my dad didn't have the issues your parents did. I'm not going to lie, when it comes to large family gatherings it's not going to be acknowledged. They'll all pretend to forget that you're in Slytherin and they'll say things that aren't true about our house and you're just going to have to grin and bear it. It gets easier after a while though."

He related to Molly the most, she understood. She knew what it was like to get a red sweater from their grandmother while Lucy, Hugo, and Fred got a blue one, while Teddy, Louis, and Dominique got a yellow one. She knew what it was like to sit at a table full of elder Gryffindor's who believed in the feud between the houses, who thought that all Slytherins could shove it, "Oh, but besides you two of course, you two are different."

Around his fourth year was when the tensions started. Albus had grown tired of his family's attitude towards his house, had grown tired of the red sweaters and the drunken comments from uncle Ron and uncle George, even his own mother and father on some occasions. He had grown tired of the acceptance of his Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff cousins while his house was dismissed. He found counter arguments to things they said, refused to wear the sweaters until his mother had charmed the yarn green for the picture. He made an effort to bring his house up, to show his colors, to make sure they didn't forget that he was there, that things have changed.

The arguments only changed. After James had graduated and found himself in the auror program, after Albus brought home enough O.W.L.s to appease but not high enough to avoid scrutiny, after Albus claimed that Quidditch was something he wanted to do after Hogwarts. Then it became talks about his grades, talks about how he needed a backup plan. Only his mother seemed to really understand his want to play professionally, but even then she always encouraged a backup.

James was the worst. He treated everything like a competition, he wanted to be _just like dad_. However James wasn't like their father. James didn't give people the benefit of the doubt, James held grudges and took time to understand new ideas. James liked having the spotlight and liked talking; it didn't matter if he was right or wrong. Albus didn't know if he wanted to laugh or groan at the thought of what would happen when James found out about Scorpius.

His sister Lily seemed to be the only one who tried to understand from the beginning. She seemed to be the most Gryffindor out of all his family. _She_ was brave enough to stand up to his family with him, but she also stood up for everything she believed in and didn't know when to stop. Sometimes she argued both sides, standing up for Albus only to turn around and tell him that it's hard on the family as well and that he needed to stop being such a "special snowflake" as she liked to put it. He would always say that he was a special snowflake just to see her roll her eyes.

He wondered if Scorpius went through what he did. Both his parents were in Slytherin, what was it like for him to be a Ravenclaw? He thought back to how Scorpius had laughed when he talked about the debates with his father. No, Scorpius didn't have to fight like he did for his house recognition. Maybe if he had been sorted into Gryffindor, but Scorpius wouldn't belong there if he were.

Albus brought his hands back up to his nose to smell the mint again. Grinning, he remembered that he would be seeing Scorpius again at the end of the week. He was rather enjoying the baths, though they were getting harder to sit through. The more he sat with and got to know Scorpius, the more he wanted. Albus thought of the better parts of the bath and wondering just what he was going to do with Scorpius Malfoy as he fell asleep.

He was woken the next morning by Ashton Monroe poking him in the shoulder.

"Captain, it's morning."

Albus rubbed at his eyes and pushed himself up, "Monroe? what're you doing in my room?"

"It's the common room Captain. Breakfast is in five minutes. Then practice."

"Right, right," Albus rubbed his eyes again and focused on the second year in front of him. "Just the two of us yeah? I did promise that."

"Yes, Captain, sir."

"Hey Monroe, what house were your parents in?"  Albus asked, curious as to where it was that this boy got his manners from.

The boy looked a little taken aback before locking eyes with him. "I'm muggleborn, Captain."

"First generation Hogwarts student then, and a Slytherin to boot. Any siblings?"

"Younger sister. We'll find out about her next summer." Monroe paused, "Can I ask why Captain?"

"Just curious about my team." Albus reached out and ruffled the boy's hair before pushing himself up."I'll meet you down at breakfast in a bit."

.:.:.:.

As the rest of the week went on, Albus found himself catching sight of Scorpius more and more often. Sometimes he could feel the Ravenclaw staring at him and sometimes he would stare at him until Scorpius looked up. His friends started to notice as well.

"Who's got your eyes in Ravenclaw then?" Beverly Jones asked on Wednesday, "Not Davidson I hope because that would just be sad."

"Ha-Ha" Albus said, grinning as Scorpius looked up, saw him, and turned red.

"Oh," Beverly laughed and shook her head. "Malfoy it is. And does he know that you're pining after him?"

"He does, mostly. I'm letting it play out how it will."

"I see. And how does he know exactly?"

"I've told him," Albus paused, had he actually told Scorpius that he liked him? Or had he just teased around the subject? "I've mostly told him."

"Right," Beverly shook her head again, "oh he's looking over here again, nope, he saw me staring and looked away."

"So what do you think?"

"Of Malfoy? Or of you and Malfoy?"

"Yes"

Beverly rolled her eyes. "I've had no trouble with Malfoy, I don't think anyone has. Well aside from Davis but that was his own fault really. As for you and Malfoy..." She trailed off and looked over Albus, her eyes studying his face before she looked back over at Scorpius. "I'm not sure. Better vibes than that one bastard, but I don't know Malfoy."

"He's not like Jeremy."

"If you say so."

"I've gotten to know him really well. Trust me."

"Okay Al,"

.:.:.:.

Finally Friday came around. Albus was fidgeting hard in his seat, glancing over at Scorpius between bites of his dinner so he could leave the same time the other boy did.

"Calm down." Beverly said, laying a hand on Albus' shoulder. "What's got you so anxious anyway?"

"I'm, um," Albus pulled at his hair, "I'm meeting up with Scorpius after dinner."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," He glanced up to see Scorpius standing up and saying goodbye to Rodger Davidson and Juno Patil, "And that's going to be now. See you tomorrow Bev."

"Yeah yeah," She waved her hand at him, pulling a slice chocolate pie over to her plate.

Albus made his way out of the great hall, just a few steps behind Scorpius. He wondered if he would be able to scare him again. It had been a while since he had done that.

"Hullo Albus."

"How'd you know I was behind you?"

Scorpius laughed and turned around to look at him. "Because I saw you itching to get out of your seat since dinner started. I gave up desert for you I hope you know."

Albus laughed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Come on," Scorpius held out a hand to him. Grinning, Albus laced his finger through his and they made their way towards the bathroom.

"I wonder what people would think if they saw you pulling me to the prefects bathroom." Albus laughed.

Scorpius just shrugged. "It doesn't really matter what people think. Besides they're all at dinner."

Albus looked over at Scorpius. He wasn't blushing like Albus thought he would be. "They'd probably think,' wow, those two look good together'."

"I've stopped caring what others think."

These words stumped Albus. Apparently this wasn't the proper way to plant the idea of them together into Scorpius' head. It also made him wonder just what Scorpius meant by that. Even Albus cared mostly about what others thought. It was why he fought with his family constantly, why he got frustrated with the prophet sometimes, why he put so much effort into his team.

"It's okay," Scorpius said, squeezing his hand.

"What do you mean?"

"If you care... about what others think that is."

"Oh, well..." Albus trailed off, not sure how to respond to that. Scorpius just smiled at him.

"How was your week?" Scorpius asked once they got through Boris and locked the door.

"It was alright. I had a one on one practice with Monroe. He's getting pretty good. I think we might stand a change next game if he keeps his mindset up."

"That's good. When is your scrimmage with Ravenclaw?"

"I've set it up with Davidson for Wednesday.  That way they can work a couple moves out before the game next weekend. You could come to that if you want."

Scorpius smiled at him, "I'll talk with Davidson first to make sure it's okay. Now what smell do we want this time?"

"I liked that mint you put in last time."

"Same as last time it is then!"

Albus watched at Scorpius walked over to the taps and started to fill the tub. He had been careful not to look to long at Scorpius before as the boy had already voiced his discomfort at being looked at while undressed. He also didn't want to stare too long in the hallways. However he didn't have to worry about being caught by others when it was just the two of them in the prefect's bath and Scorpius was mostly dressed at his moment, only his outer robes off.

His blond hair curled and extended just past his neck and fell in front of his glasses  and blue eyes often. If it had been Albus he would have gotten a hair cut a long time ago. His glasses were square black frames that slid down his pointed nose as he reached over to turn on the right tap. His arms were long and Albus had noticed the fading tan lines in their previous baths. They were almost gone now. His legs were long as well, but had defined muscles, as if Scorpius ran often. He was just an inch taller than Albus.

"How was your week?"Albus asked as Scorpius made his way back over. He turned away and started to pull off his robes.

"It was pretty good. Juno and I made one of the potions that I learned about last week.  It turned out pretty well. I also caught _five_ couples last night during my rounds."

"I can't tell if that's good or bad."

"It's bad. Usually there is only one or two, but five is a lot, especially for a Thursday. It's _almost_ as if we've been at school for almost two months so everyone has finally found their person for the year."

"Oh?"

"There's a trend." Scorpius said, pausing as he took off his glasses and then his shirt. "Couples usually pick up around October, just in time for Halloween and Hogsmeade trips. It's the hardest time for prefects until valentine's day rolls around."

"Wouldn't that make your job more fun?" Albus forced himself to look away as Scorpius continued to undress. Instead he headed over to the tub and slid in. The bath was only halfway full at this point.

"Nope, it means that there is more 'please don't give us detention, it's only ten past curfew' and more empty threats to get out of it as well." Scorpius stepped into the bath and sat next to him. "It's a lot easier when people aren't breaking the rules."

"Have you ever caught a prefect before?"

Scorpius grinned slyly at him, "Better, last night I caught Patterson."

"No! The Headgirl? With who?"

Scorpius grinned even more, "Gideon."

"You're telling me that our headgirl and headboy are together?"

"Oh no," Scorpius shook his head. "They hate each other. You should hear the rows those two get into, they are _always_ fighting. They just fuck. We've all suspected it for a while, but now I've got actual proof."

"So you _caught_ them."

"Yep," Scorpius shook his head and laughed. "I shocked the hell out of Gideon. I think Patterson planed for them to get caught. She had this smug look on her face _and_ she's the one who assigns patrol duty. " Scorpius pushed himself off the tile. "I'm gonna turn off the taps now."

"Why would she do that?" Albus asked, gazing at Scorpius' back as the boy walked deeper into the water.

"Okay she might not actually hate Gideon.  Maybe she thought that if they got caught he'd be forced to do something about their relationship. I don't think it's going to work though. Gideon's too thick for that."

"How much other gossip do you have?"

"Prefects know everything that goes on in the school. " The smirk that was on Scorpius' face as he walked back to Albus was one that made him feel as if there really wasn't anything that went on in this school that the prefects didn't know. He wondered just what information Scorpius was hiding behind that smirk.

"So all the other prefects know that we hang out in the baths often?"

"I didn't say _all_ prefects know everything, Prefects _collectively_ know everything."

"So only you know then,"

"As far as I know, you and I are the only ones who know that we share a bath, yes."  Scorpius sat back down next to Albus, "So unless you've told anyone, there isn't much gossip around us yet."

"I thought you didn't care about what others thought of you."

"I don't" Scorpius said, his hand resting on top of Albus', "But you do, so I'm not analyzing everything that happens with Juno or Rodger. Instead I keep it to myself until you say otherwise."

"I don't care."

Scorpius rose an eyebrow at him.

"Okay maybe I do a little, but not in the 'I don't want to be seen with you' way but in the 'if anyone says anything against it I'm going to say something back' kind of way."

"I know which way you care. I've already seen you isolate people because of their actions."

Albus thought of Davis, how he had stopped being partners with him after he found out he was bullying Scorpius. "Good, then you know that I'm serious."  Albus turned his hand so he was actually holding Scorpius'.

They were silent for a while, Scorpius leaning lightly on his shoulder as they soaked in the tub.

"Halloween is coming up."

Scorpius hummed in acknowledgment.

"It's one of my favorite holidays. I even go down and help Hagrid carve those giant pumpkins. I get covered in guts and seed half the time."

"Is this your way of asking for another bath?"

Albus laughed, "Mostly. But also if you wanted to come and help. I'm sure Hagird would love another set of hands. "

"Wow Albus, that's three things you've invited me to."

"Oh?" He bit his lip and looked over at Scorpius, glad to see that the Ravenclaw was smiling contently.

"Yep. The Quidditch scrimmage, pumpkin carving, and a bath after. If I didn't know any better I'd think you want to spend time with me."

"Well I do."

Scorpius grinned and leaned closer to him. "When is the pumpkin carving?"

Albus took in a deep breath. Scorpius' face was right in front of him. "Um, Tuesday?"

"Albus?"

"Yes?" His eyes darted to look at his lips as his name was said before forcing himself to look back at Scorpius' blue eyes.

"Would it be alright if I kissed you?"

"I would like that."

Then Scorpius' lips were on his, soft and slightly wet from their bath. Before Scorpius could pull back away, Albus reached a hand up to his hair, holding him close. The two kissed for a second longer before Albus dropped his hand and Scorpius pulled away grinning.

"We'll have to do that again when we aren't in a bath."

Albus smirked at him, "Well that can easily be arranged."

Scorpius laughed. "I'd actually like to relax and soak for a bit. If we got out now it would be the shortest bath that we've ever had."

"I suppose."

The two soaked in the bath, talking about Halloween and what the usually did for the holiday, talking about their friends and about their school load. Albus could tell that Scorpius was being careful not to bring up his family again and he was grateful for that. Soon their fingers were wrinkled and Albus was yawning.

"I've got practice in the morning." Albus sighed and rolled his shoulders, "We probably shouldn't stay here much longer."

"Probably not." Scorpius sat up fully, his weight leaving Albus' shoulder. Albus grinned at how Scorpius didn't drag out the end of the bath like he would have.

"I'll go pull the plug." Albus said, standing up and walking towards the deep end of the tub. He heard Scorpius get out. When he got out of the water he grinned at how Scorpius very pointedly wasn't looking at him as they dried and got dressed.

"So what do I have to do Tuesday?"

"Well I wouldn't wear an good robes. Usually Lily and I go down in just shorts and a shirt. Jeans maybe if it's colder. You'll need your wand."

"Do I just meet you at Hagrid's at a certain time?"

"No, we can have lunch together and then we'll go down."

"You want me to have lunch with you?" Scorpius asked, concentrating on cleaning his glasses. 

"Yeah, if you'd like to."

"I'd like to." Scorpius said, placing his glasses back on his face. "I'd also like to kiss you again."

Albus chuckled and pulled Scorpius closer, "You don't even have to ask anymore," he said, pressing his lips against the other's.

"You're gonna regret saying that," Scorpius murmured against his lips before kissing him.

"No I'm not." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So school and work are kicking my ass. I hope you enjoyed this extra long update to make up for the wait I put y'all through. Hopefully I'll be able to make another one by the next week.


	6. Scorpius

Closing the common room door behind him, Scorpius rested against it and smiled to himself. He didn't think that he was going to do that today. He had pictured so many different things in his head, so many different ways for it to play out. He was happy with how things went. His thoughts usually took it a bit further than a kiss, much further really, but that wasn't something he wanted to actually do until he knew exactly where he stood with the Slytherin.

Rationally, he knew that Albus wasn't the type to leave right after getting what he wanted, but Scorpius still held that fear. He knew that it was Albus who was asking for more time for them to spend together, Albus who had invited him to pumpkin caring and to a quidditch scrimmage. The evidence showed that Albus was there for the long run. Yet Scorpius still feared that this was a prank, feared that Albus was just trying to see how far he could go.

"Who is it?"

Scorpius looked up to see Juno Patil standing in front of him, arms crossed with a sharp glare on her face."What?"

"Who is it?" She said again, pausing in between words as her eyes scanned him over.

"Who is who?"

"Don't fucking play dumb with me Scorpius. You've been acting weird all week and today you leave dinner early, something you _never_ do mind you, and come back to the common room like this!" She thrust out her arm to gesture to his face, "Flushed and soaking wet! Is it Davis again? I thought he stopped doing that shit second year! Why didn't you defend yourself!"

Realization dawned on him at that moment. How he came in must have worried her, resting against the door for a while. With a laugh he pushed himself off and shook his head. "Juno, you've got it all wrong."

"Don't you fucking defend them. Give me the name, Scor! I can make their life hell! Detention every week! I've just got to stage something."

"No, no, Juno, stop." Scorpius laughed more and rested a hand on her shoulder, pushing her out of the entryway. "I'm wet because I took a bath. I left early because I was meeting someone."

"You better explain better than that."

"I will, I will, just not with so many eavesdroppers," Scorpius scanned the room to make sure nobody was listening to them, "We can use one of the study rooms."

"Fine." She huffed and stopped resisting his pushing. Instead she grabbed him by the wrist and marched over to the study rooms in the back of the common room. As they got closer Scorpius realized that all of them were full, however, it didn't seem to be a problem to Juno as she walked straight into one that had a couple third years.

"Out." 

The third years didn't waste any time gathering there things at her demand. The rushed out of the room, nearly knocking Scorpius over in their hurry.

"Well you didn't have to kick them out. We could have went up to my room."

"And have Davidson and Pent part of the conversation as well? I don't fucking think so. " She slammed the door to the study room shut, "You worried the shit out of me Scor!" She cast the muffling charm across the door and turned to glare at him with her hands on her hips "Now start explaining!"

"Okay so I've been..." Scorpius wondered just exactly how he was supposed to tell Juno that he had been taking baths with Albus Potter for almost a month now. He could feel his cheeks heating up as he thought about it. "Okay so it was a complete accident at first...er..."

"Just fucking say it Malfoy!"

The words tumbled out of his mouth at her demand, "I've been taking baths with Albus Potter."  

This, apparently, wasn't something that Juno was expecting. He saw her open her mouth as if to yell at him, only to pause and think if she had heard them right. He saw her eyebrows pull together in confusion, "What the fuck?"

"Okay so after the quidditch game? Remember how I was freezing and said I was going to warm up with a bath," Scorpius started explaining, "well Albus was there and trying to drown himself. Not literally of course, but I walked in on him and instead of telling me to leave he saw I was soaking and said he needed suicide watch anyway so we just.. shared a bath..." Scorpius shrugged and started pulling at his sleeves, "And then he asked... well not really asked, more like challenged me to have another bath with him. Anyway we've had... This was our fourth bath together and I..." Scorpius grinned in spite of his embracement and glanced up at her, "I kissed him today."

"Scorpius fucking Malfoy."

"What?"

"Scorpius _fucking_ Malfoy. " She shook her head at him, grinning, "Do you have any fucking idea how worried I was about you all week? Just to find out it was because you have the hots for fucking Potter?" she pulled him down to sit at the seats at the table, "Fucking Albus Potter! and _You_ kissed _him!_ Tell me everything!"

Scorpius laughed at her, shaking his head. "Everything?"

"After planning six different murders? I _deserve_ to know everything!"

So Scorpius told her everything. He told her how Albus had teased him, how they had a splashing war and how he had lost. He told her how they had talked for hours already and were getting to know each other. He told her about how Albus had called him cute and how he kissed his hand, to which she called him a 'romantic git' but was smiling approvingly.  He told her how Albus had already asked him to pumpkin carving, yet another bath, and a scrimmage and how that was what gave Scorpius the courage to ask for a kiss.

"You actually _asked_? _Twice?!_ "

"Well, yeah," Scorpius didn't think that he could blush any harder or grin any wider at this point. "I mean, I don't actually know what he thinks of me, just that he want to spend more time with me."

"Oh my god Scor. He fucking likes you."

"Well I _know_ that. What I don't know is how much, or _why_ , or what we even are. I could easily be just a bath mate."

"Oh my fucking god Scorpius!" She threw her head back against the chair, starting up at the ceiling, "You are so... so... I don't even fucking know."

"Yes, thank you so much for your help."

"He _likes_ you. You're _not_ just someone he takes a bath with."

"And you know all that from what I just said? I mean, I know I'm not just a bath mate now... but what's going to happen tomorrow? Or Sunday or Monday? Do I just pretend that nothing happened until Tuesday when 'yes hello Slytherin table, Albus invited me to sit here this fine lunch'?"

"Well that's your own damn fault for not asking before leaving him."

"Again, thank you for your help. "

Juno rolled her eyes at him. "Just ask him tomorrow or the next time you see him then. It's not that fucking hard."

"Have _you_ ever asked someone if they liked you? Have you ever asked someone what exactly your relationship was? I mean, what if he's just trying to see how far he can take things with me? What if it's all for a laugh"

"If you're going to think this hard then at least do it on something that actually requires thought. It doesn't sound like it's for a laugh, it sounds like he actually cares."

"Fine, whatever," Scorpius said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I can't think about this anymore anyway."

.:.:.:.

Scorpius thought about the kiss and what exactly he was going to do or say to Albus the next time he saw him for most of the next morning. His stomach was bubbling up so much that he opted out of breakfast and stayed in the common room working on homework until his stomach started growling and the time for lunch came.

It wouldn't be a big deal, he told himself. He could easily get through this weekend like he had gotten through the past week.  Just glances at Albus and focusing on his work. If he focused on his homework then he wouldn't even have to think about Albus. He wouldn't have to think about the kiss, or how he was supposed to carve pumpkins with Albus and his sister, or how every time he caught eyes with Albus his stomach jumped.  No, he could focus on the top hundred medical advances of the twenty-first century.

Taking his book and bag with him down to the Great Hall, Scorpius couldn't help but scan the tabled for Albus. He wasn't there. This makes it easier, Scorpius thought as he sat down with his back to the Slytherin table. If Albus wasn't here then he wouldn't have to think about what was going through the other boy's mind. He could just eat and read.

He was halfway through his sandwich and fully engrossed in the history of wolfsbane when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Albus Potter was standing behind him, shifting slightly from foot to foot. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Oh, no, no," Scorpius closed his book and moved his bag off the bench to clear a space next to him.

"Good because I've already told Bev I wasn't sitting with her today and it would be really awkward if I had to go back," Albus explained as he sat down next to him. "I hope I didn't interrupt any breakthroughs."

"Oh, no, just reading to... keep occupied."

Albus grinned and started making himself a sandwich. "Any certain things you're keeping occupied from?"

"Um..." Scorpius could feel himself going red, "Not, not anything in particular."

"Then I'm the only one that stayed up into the late of night because he couldn't sleep?"

Scorpius looked quizzically at Albus, who was very pointedly _not_ looking at him. "You couldn't sleep?"

"Not a wink until the sun rose. I actually just woke up, so I'm glad I booked the pitch for after lunch today and not before it."

"Why?"

"Well I would have slept through practice then wouldn't I?"

"No, no," Scorpius shook his head, "Why couldn't you sleep?"

"A number of reasons," Albus said, taking a large bite out of his sandwich. "One of them is sitting right next to me."

" _I_ was the reason you couldn't sleep?"  Scorpius found that hard to believe. There wasn't any way that Albus could have stayed up all night thinking about him.

Albus laughed and finished off his sandwich. "Don't act so surprised." He started to make another sandwich, "I've made it very clear about how I feel about you yet I've got no clue what you think of me."

"But _I'm_ the one who kissed _you_ ," Scorpius said incredulously, looking over Albus again, "And you have not made it 'very clear' at all. You've just asked me to hang out with you."

"Is that what you think?" Albus grinned at him, "I suppose I have to spell it out for you then?"

"I'd like that, yes"  Scorpius nodded, feeling rather silly as he crossed his arms.

"Well then, I, Albus Potter, the buff quidditch captain of the great Slytherin team, like Scorpius Malfoy, the cute Ravenclaw prefect, and would like to spend more time with him and would definitely like to kiss him more."

"Right, well," Scorpius nodded, "That certainly does spell it out then doesn't it?"

Albus bent over in a fit of laughter at his words. Scorpius' stomach dropped. This was it, this was where Albus told him that it was all a joke or a dare, that he wasn't actually going to go that far. This was where his fears were proven right and he wasn't going pumpkin carving and thank Merlin he hadn't already asked Rodger if he could sit in on the scrimmage.

"Scorpius Malfoy," Albus gasped out, still laughing, "This is exactly what I meant when I said I've got no clue how you feel about me." He shook his head and grabbed Scorpius' hand, "Let me try again then. I like you and would like to see you outside of the prefects bath on a regular basis. I'd like to do homework with you and have lunch with you and Hogsmeade. In short, I'd like to date you."

"Oh, well," Scorpius' face was hot and Albus was looking at him expectantly. This wasn't a prank, Albus actually meant it. Scorpius opened his mouth but no sounds came out. He saw Albus' smile falter. He was pulling away.

"Yeah,  " Scorpius finally managed to force out of his throat, his hand tightening around Albus' to make sure the he didn't go anywhere. "I mean, yes, I'd like to date you as well."

"Well good." Albus smiled at him then pulled away to finish his food.

Scorpius stared at him for a while, watching him as he stuffed chips in to his mouth and drank lemonade. Was he really serious? Was this all it took to date someone, to just agree and to do so and then go about business as normal? Was he really not going to take it back and say it was a Halloween joke?

"I thought we already agreed I wasn't something for you to study?"

"Right," Scorpius looked away and picked at the rest of his food.

"Scorpius?"

"Hmmm?"

"You do want this right?"

Scorpius looked up again at Albus. He saw the tenseness in his shoulders, the worry in his eyes, the faltering smile. No, this wasn't a prank. Albus wasn't going to take it all back. He wasn't going to cover him in pumpkin guts, or at least not with cruel intent if he was. Albus really wanted to date him.

"Yes, I do. I'm just... Do you?"

He saw Albus visibly relax at his words, "If I could sit right here and explain to you until you understand that I do want to date you I would, but I've got to go have practice." Albus leaned forward and placed his lips against Scorpius' briefly. "I'll see you later Scor."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couple things:  
> 1) This story is getting way out of my control, mostly because I have no actual plan with it. However, the full intent was for it to be a fluff piece.  
> 2) I've got a couple ideas for other stories, mostly Albus/Scorpius based as I am complete scorpal trash. The main things I've got planned is a graceling hp crossover set before the gracing time. Scorpius would be a monster and Albus would be an Lienid price. Another one I'm contemplating is a series of one-shots all based off a song from the 1975 Album "I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware..." however the shorts wont all be scorpal, but a number of other characters and parings. Of course all of this wont happen until summer arrives and I have more time. I would like to get some thoughts off these Ideas though. (also if you haven't read the graceling series, I highly highly recommend!)  
> 3) I feel like I should reply to all the comments because they really do mean a lot to me, however I always forget to. Anyway thank you all for commenting and reading and kudosing. It really means a lot to me.  
> 4) Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!


	7. Albus

Albus wasn't worried about Scorpius Malfoy in the slightest after he had gotten the official word that they were dating. By the time Scorpius sat down next to him at lunch without asking on Tuesday, Albus knew that whatever doubts either of them had should be gone.

"Afternoon Al, Bev," Scorpius nodded at the two of them, pulling food onto his plate.

"Scorpius, please tell your boyfriend that there is something wrong with us knowing next to nothing about the department of mysteries." Beverly said by way of acknowledgment, food still hanging of her fork as she gestured at Albus. The two of them were debating about the Department of Mysteries, a recent obsession with Beverly.

"No, please tell Bev here that there is a reason that the D.O.M.  is secret and that the magic in there is highly dangerous and classified." Albus shot back. He shifted in his seat so his leg was pressed against Scorpius' leg to remind him of the loyalty he should have to him.

"Well, er," Scorpius looked between the two Slytherins and Albus could tell instantly that this wasn't something Scorpius would take his side on.

"No!" Albus yelled a bit dramatically at this realization, "You've got to be kidding me! Scor, you know how dangerous magic can be in the wrong hands! All the things that are in there are temperamental and dangerous!"

"Hold up!" Beverly raised her fork in the air emphasis, "Do you actually know of anything that happens in there? Or are you just falling on general knowledge?"

"Of course I know. I mean besides the basic developmental magic testing that everybody knows... my family told me of the horrible things they saw in there."

"Oh right" Bev rolled her eyes and went back to her salad, "I forgot I was in the presence of son of the chosen one, knower of all the secrets."

"So it's true then?" Scorpius interjected.

"Is what true?"

"Well there is very little information about the battle at the ministry," Scorpius shrugged, "I mean half the portrayals of it take place just outside the doors of the department. Others say the battle took place in there, but only give information of who was there and who died. Everything about the department itself and why they were there is never stated."

"That can't be true," Albus' eyebrows furrowed together. His father had gone there for the prophecy. All of his family went there, they all had vivid descriptions of the place and what happened. Was it possible that he knew everything from the words of his family and not from books? It couldn't be, Albus thought, his family hardly ever talked about the war.

"So what's in the department then?" Bev asked, "What's so secret that there is no written record of it?"

"There's um..." But Albus paused, having trouble recalling just what was in there besides prophecies, brains, an archway that killed Sirius Black. "Well there must be a reason they don't want all of it getting out. I mean it is really twisted things, and highly dangerous."

"Merlin you're so brainwashed Albus!"

"Are you going to let her call me that?" Albus turned to Scorpius, wanting to get off the topic now. If it was something that only his family knew about, maybe he should keep it that way. What good would it do for them to know anyway?

"I don't know if brainwashed is the proper term," Scorpius shrugged, "I mean, for all you know the whole thing was changed since the war. Also, how accurate would your family's portrayal of it be, as they were there for  battle and not study. That, and we do know _some_ things about the department. We know that all new spells and potions are tested there."

"You're not helping Malfoy."

"It doesn't matter anyway, we'll never know what's actually in there," Albus waved a hand at her.

"Of course it matters! We're supposed to trust the ministry, yet we never have any idea what is actually happening in there. I mean, even the brochure for the department is vague. They want O's in practically all the N.E.W.T.s and it says that they contact you. Tell me that isn't the slightest bit weird!"

"Fine, fine. It's weird." Albus said, "But there's got a be a reason why it's kept secret. I mean we've all seen magic, we all know the horrors of developmental magic. It's probably just the testing ground. I mean, do you really want to know what went into creating your procedure?" Albus pointed out.

"Yes I do!" Bev shouted. "God just thinking about it." She shuddered and ran her hands through her hair. Albus grimaced too at the thought as well. He remembered the year long process that got Bev to where she was today. He didn't think that he would be able to go through that transformation even if he wanted to.

"Procedure?" Scorpius asked, glancing between the two.

"Do you remember anything before fourth year Scorpius?" Bev asked him, poking at the remains of her salad.

"Lots of things, but uh, probably not what you're getting at."

Albus sighed and went back to eating. He really didn't need to hear Beverly's transgender spiel when he had lived through it with her. He had seen the pain that she went through as she took potion after potion to change her body. He had carried her bags from class to class when she started having cramps. He had helped her move all of her things from their dorm room to her new one with the rest of the Slytherin girls.

"Oh I heard about that!" Scorpius leaned forward, "Not you exactly, but the procedure. It's still highly controversial and in trial phase. You must have been one of the first hundred to test it!"

"Number 73!" Beverly grind proudly.

"Is that why you're interested in the department of mysteries then? Because they're the ones who regulate and test all of that."

"Indeed. It was absolutely horrible, worth it, but horrible."

"There's been little headway in it from what I've heard, though I think the success rate is now at a 95%" Scorpius went on.

"Which is much better. I remember my mother telling me to wait until it was completely tested and approved, but I just couldn't. I mean, you try living with Albus for four years!" Beverly laughed.

"Please," Said a new voice behind him, "I've lived with him my whole life."

"Yes, yes," Albus rolled his eyes, "Let's all tell my boyfriend that I'm a complete dread to live with. Not like it matters much anyway."

"I'm sure you're not that bad," Scorpius said with a grin, patting him on the shoulder.

Lily laughed and wrapped her arms around Albus' neck, "Mal-Scorpius, don't give my brother false hope. Now both of you get up, we've got pumpkins to carve!"

As Scorpius started standing, Lily still hadn't let go of his neck. Albus held back a sigh, already knowing what was coming. "I can't get up with you clinging to me like this sister dear."

"But brother darling," Lily sighed dramatically and put more weight on him, "I've done so many stairs today! and Divination! I can't possibly move!"

"Leach," Albus rolled his eyes and made a show of how complicated it was to get out of the bench with Lil hanging on him. Then, with a wink at Scorpius, picked up his sister's legs and stood as fast as he could. "By Bev!"

"See you Beverly!" Lily blew a kiss her way.

They made their way out, but as soon as they stepped out of the castle, Scorpius spoke up.

"So why wasn't Bev invited?"

"She's allergic to pumpkins," Albus explained. Lily's weight was starting to affect him and he jumped slightly to readjust her. "And possibly spider monkeys' too."

Lily laughed in his ear, "No, everybody loves spider monkeys!" She started to unhook her legs from around him but Albus tightened his grip. He was going to carry her as far as he could and show off his strength.

"So M-Scorpius," Lily continued, "How's Ravenclaw?"

"It's good, how's Gryffindor?"

"Oh no," Albus muttered the same time Lily said that it was great and then started to ramble on about whatever it was her friends had done that morning. If there was one thing about Lily that Albus knew, it was that she never shut up.

Lily was still talking by the time they all reached Hagrid's, Scorpius entertaining her the entire time. "Alright off you leach," Albus said, dropping his hold on her. She kissed him on the cheek and then dropped gracefully to the ground.

"Don't I just have the best brother in the world?" Lily laughed before making her way to the door and walking right into the hut.

"Yer late," Hagrid said as Lily pulled him out, "'bout to get started without yer. Oh, hello Scorpius." Hagrid smiled kindly at him, "Still doing well in Care of Magical Creatures are yah?" He had taught only their third year before retiring and letting their new professor take over. Occasionally he would co teach a class if he was interested in the creature or had special connections with them. From what Hermione had told Albus it was a good thing that they had a more competent teacher, even if Hagrid meant well enough."

"Yes Professor Hagrid."

"Oh I ain't no professor anymore. Too old for that. Though it was nice meeting you yer third year. Not like yer father at all."

"Hagrid," Albus warned, raising his eyebrows at the half giant.

"No, no, it's okay," Scorpius reassured, "My father admits to being somewhat... dramatic in his younger years. I doubt he'll ever apologize, but" Scorpius shrugged, "I'm used to the comparison."

"It's not alright Scor," Albus said, "You shouldn't-"

"So where are the pumpkins then?" Scorpius interrupted him, "How big have you gotten them this year professor?"

Albus followed as they were led to the back, wondering just what was going through Scorpius' head. All he had tried to do was defend him. He knew what it was like to be compared to a father that you were nothing like. He knew what it was like to have expectations like that thrown on you simply because of predisposed ideas.

"Wow! These are the biggest I've ever seen! How do you do it?" Scorpius asked, running an hand over one of the pumpkins.

Albus didn't listen to Hagrid as he told Scorpius the entire process. He just pulled off his outer robes to keep them clean and pulled out his wand. He could hear the other three talking as he lined up five of the pumpkins in front of him and started to clean them out.

He didn't understand Scorpius sometimes. If Albus was being honest with himself, he hardly ever understood the boy. He would have been angry if someone had compared him to his father like that. He would have fought back and was about to defend Scorpius as well, but Scorpius had stopped him. 

Albus continued to therapeutically clean the guts out of the pumpkins, a pile of seeds growing into a small hill next to him while the excess wall lining was put in a barrels that would eventually make it to the kitchens to be the pumpkin supply for the rest of the year.  Albus wasn't much of an artist, so he focused on getting the pumpkins ready for Lily to carve the different faces in.  Vaguely he was aware of Lily and Scorpius talking while they both carved in faces with their wands. Hagrid was sorting through the seeds for ones to save for planting next year and ones to give to the elves to roast.

"I know I shouldn't have said it Al, but it's true," Hagrid said eventually. "Everyone thinks it, and he seems to be okay with it."

"Hagrid."

"I'm just saying I'm glad you brought 'em. It was too slow last year without James around to help. Don't even know what ter do next year when it'll just be Lily."

"Maybe she'll have a boyfriend." Albus shrugged, "Or you can ask a couple students to help."

"Wouldn't be the same."

They heard a sharp squeal of laughter and looked up to see Lily doubled over, her red hair almost touching the ground. Scorpius was grinning right at him, wand pointed in the air.

Albus looked up to see a whole pumpkin floating above him.

"I think you missed this one!" Scorpius called out and flicked his wand. The pumpkin turned over and all Albus could do was raise up his hands to cover himself from the seeds and pumpkin pulp that rained down on top of him. The pumpkin guts clung to him, making a net of seed and pulp in front of his face. He could hear three different laughs around him.

"I thought you were smarter that that Scor!" Albus called, thrusting his wand towards the pile of useless pulp he had been collecting since the beginning.

"Scorpius RUN!" Lily laughed, already starting to weave around the small pumpkin patch for hiding places.

The pulp pile rose and formed a monstrous mass. With another flick of Albus' wand, it split into two and started to chase his sister and boyfriend. "Why would you attack me when I've got all the pulp?!" Albus laughed as the pulp darted after the two.

"It was Lily's idea!" Scorpius yelled.

"It was your wand!" she shot back, still weaving through the pumpkins.

Slowly the pulp was gaining on Scorpius. Albus could see bit of it already hanging from his hair and clinging to his clothes. He was focusing so much on getting Scorpius that he didn't realize what his sister was doing until it was too late.

She had been running up and down the patch, slowly making her way towards him. As soon as she saw the opening she flung herself at Albus, tackling him into the mound of seeds. As they fell to the ground the pumpkin pulp that had been chasing her attacked, covering the both of them from head to toe in pulp. The same time all this happened, Albus hear Scorpius yell out as that pulp monster caught up with him as well.

"Oi! Watch it!" Hagrid half yelled half laughed at them as the pulp splashed up at him.

Albus clawed his way out of the pulp, gasping for breath to take in the scene around him. Pulp and seeds were sprawled everywhere, Jack-o-lanterns were scattered around the garden, all manically facing him. Lily and Scorpius were still trying to fight their way out of the pulp, laughing loudly as they did so.

Finally they all managed to crawl their way out of the pulp. Scorpius was pulling strings of it off his glasses. Lily was shaking her hair furiously, sending seeds and string everywhere as she did so.

"Do it again Albie!" She grinned at him, dancing from foot to foot.

"Do not!" Scorpius laughed, shaking his head, "I almost died in there!"

"But you didn't!" Lily pointed out.

Albus just rolled his eyes and fell back down on the bed of pulp. There wasn't any use in trying to get clean anyway. Not even seconds later he saw his sister run and plop herself next to him. Scorpius made his way over as well, but with much less fanfare, and sat down next to him.

"You know," Albus stated, "I was going to be nice and not cover the both of you in guts."

"No you weren't" Scorpius shot back. 

"Well now you'll never know. You brought this on yourself."

Scorpius rolled his eyes at him. Albus grinned and winked at him, already looking forward to the bath they would take to get rid of all the pumpkin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading and commenting!


	8. Scorpius

The smell of pumpkin filled his lungs, the sticking strands clung to his glasses causing his hair to clump. There were many reasons that he could not wait to get back to the castle, but the number one reason was the fact that he was a complete and utter mess.

He was glad that he had the foresight to pack a spare set of robes before heading down to lunch to meet with Albus. He wouldn't have to swing by his common room afterwards and wouldn't have to deal with Juno forcing him to take pictures in such a state. Looking over at his boyfriend, who was just as messy as he was, Scorpius didn't doubt that he would help Juno in such efforts. It was honestly a very good thing that Albus thought Juno was a stick in the mud. Once he found out how she really was, Scorpius saw his life becoming nothing more than one haphazard moment  blending into the next.

Reaching forward, Scorpius picked a few pumpkin seeds out of Albus' hair and wondered just what it meant that the two people closest to him were this hyperactive about getting him into situations that ranged just outside his comfort zone. Sure, he had been the one who had technically cast the first spell that started the pumpkin war, but in was inevitable and seemed to be the quickest way to get Lily to like him.

"I think we should get going," Albus eventually sighed out and picked himself up. He offered out a hand to his sister, yanking her up swiftly before offering to help Scorpius up.

"Good. My skin is practically crawling."

"For how many reasons Scorp?" Lily winked at him.

"Oh, not you too!"  Burring his head in his hands, Scorpius rubbed at his eyes. Maybe getting Lily to like him wasn't in his best interests. He really didn't need _three_ people constantly teasing him.

Hagird let out his own laugh as well. "Alright you three, get back to the castle."

"Awe, you're no fun!" Lily pouted and threw herself back into the large pile of pumpkin guts.

"Unless yer want to help me clean that is."

"Oh would you look at the time!" Lily said, exaggerating a look at a watch that she didn't have, "and I've got so much homework to do." She jumped back up, orange stings clinging to her red hair, "I simply must go. I'll see you love birds later and we must do this again Hagrid!" Then she was dashing up the hill.

Albus rolled his eyes, "Do you need any help cleaning up or were you just trying to get her to leave?"

"Nah, I've go' it. You two get cleaned up now. And yer best not have missed any classes to do this."

"A little late for that warning now isn't it?" Albus smiled up at the half giant, "But I can assure you that _I_ at least, didn't miss a class. "

"Nor I," Scorpius put in. As much fun as this was, he would have made Albus reschedule or wouldn't have gone had it interfered with his class work.  It was, after all, N.E.W.T.s year and he wasn't going to mess anything up.

"Good, not get!" he waved them away with his hands, smiling as he did so.

They turned and made their way back to the castle. Scorpius smiled as Albus immediately grabbed his hand, even if it was sticky.  The smell of pumpkin followed them all the way up and into the castle. Occasionally they would see orange strands scattered about along the path, presumably from Lily.

There were a scattering of people in the hallways. Most of them stared, some rolled eyes. It wasn't everyday that people walked about the castle covered in sticky orange pumpkin guts after all. Scorpius just hoped that they wouldn't run into Tally at all on their way to the bathroom. She might not be that lenient on their particular mess.

Scorpius was ready for the bath, ready to get the slimy orange stings off of him and out of his hair. Albus' was also a mess, the hair clumping together in awkward chunks and sticking out at odd angles. He could only imagine was his hair looked like as it was longer than Albus'.

"Well that wasn't too bad then, was it?"

"Were you expecting it to be bad?" Scorpius asked, looking over at the boy. He seemed relaxed enough.

"Not bad," Albus shrugged, "but I don't know."

Scorpius did know, however. He had, after all, seen the way the he had tensed up when Lily had almost called him Malfoy a couple of times. He had watched as Albus gotten defensive over Hagrid's comments, seen how he had zoned out afterwards. Scorpius didn't entirely understand where it came from and he wasn't about to figure it out or ask about it in the hallway.

"No, It was fun," Scorpius nodded, "Lily is... she's something else really."

At this Albus actually stopped walking because he was laughing so hard. His hands wrapped around his stomach and he leaned back with his eyes closed. Scorpius wondered just how many stories Albus had to inspire such a carefree laugh like that.

"You've got no clue, " Albus shook his head, still laughing lightly. "I swear she's got," Albus shook his head, still laughing, "Like all of the best and worst qualities of James and I."

"Well that's certainly interesting then," Scorpius grinned. He hadn't actually had any real conversation or interaction with James Potter. If Lily was a mix of the two of them, then he supposed that James wouldn't be that bad either. He didn't worry about it too much. It would be a while before he had to interact with Albus' brother.

They finally made it to the prefects bath, Albus still laughing to himself every so often as he remembered something or whenever Scorpius shuddered and tried to pick some of the pumpkin off himself. Scorpius hardly waited for Boris to open all the way before rushing into the room, pulling Albus after him.

"Someone's eager" Albus said, chuckling as Scorpius yanked off his shirt and pants.

"Shut it," Scorpius said, pointing his wand at the taps. Immediately they started filling the tub with water and his preferred soap mixture.  He was desperate now to get the slime off of his skin and out of his hair.

He didn't get how Albus could slowly take off his clothes and set everything aside properly as if everything wasn't covered in orange goop. In the time that it had taken him to get his shirt off, Scorpius was already completely undressed and making his way towards the other end of the bath to run his head under the hot water. He just wanted it off his skin.

Scorpius held his head under the running tap for a couple minutes, sighing in relief as he felt the smile wash off his skin. He ran his hands through his hair and tried to get as much of it out as he could.

"Scorpius," Albus laughed from the other side of the tub, "Do you not liking being dirty?"

"Merlin no!"

He heard Albus laugh some more as he continued to scrub at his hair. Finally, he was able to pull away his hands and not see any more of the orange strings clinging to him. Stepping out of the spewing taps, Scorpius stopped to find Albus standing right in front of him.

"You- you gonna wash that off?"

"Maybe," Albus shrugged, looking innocent. He reached forward and grabbed Scorpius hand, pulling him close.

"Al, you're still-" Scorpius was going to say dirty, but the word got swallowed up as Albus pressed his lips to his.

"Still what Scor?" Albus purred against his lips, not giving him any time to answer as he kissed him again.

Albus didn't pull away and after a moment, Scorpius reached his arms up to rest on Albus' shoulders. He felt a hand slid into his wet hair and grinned into the kiss. He let Albus take control, tilting his head and moving closer. Albus' hand moved to rest on his back and he let out a small gasp at the touch.

Not wanting to stop, Scorpius let the moment last. This was a kiss that he wanted, one that he was glad to have held out on until they were properly together. He was glad that he didn't succumb into temptation the first bath or the second bath. He was glad that even after the first kiss they shared the didn't delve into anything like this, but held out for this moment.

For this kiss was a tease in all ways possible and Scorpius knew it. It was a tease for how close they were, for how opportune the moment was, for how easy it would be to give into more. Mostly, it was a way for Albus to tease him about how eager he was to be clean. Scorpius could still smell the pumpkin, could feel the stings that still clung to Albus' hair brushing against his arms with every move.

Slowly he moved his hands down Albus' chest, grinning as Albus sighed at the contact. He slid his hands down the other boy's sides to rest at his hips. Relishing in the moment  as long as he could, Scorpius lightly nipped at Albus' lower lip. He savored this moment for another second longer, his hand running back up Albus' sides.

 Then he pushed Albus into the pouring water.

As he broke away, Albus lost his balance and went splashing into the water, arms flailing. Scorpius let out a laugh as he emerged glaring from the water.

"That wasn't nice Scor."

"You," Scorpius tried to get out, "You were trying to dirty me up again!"

Crossing his arms, Albus shook his head, "No, I'm pretty sure I was just trying to take advantage of you."

"You can most certainly do that," Scorpius said, crossing his arms as well, " _after_ you've gotten all the pumpkin off you."

"Is that a promise?" Albus asked, his eyebrow raised.

"Y-yes." Scorpius cursed himself for stuttering, but he couldn't help it with the sly look that Albus was giving him. Once again he found himself questioning what it was exactly he had gotten himself into. Albus was going to tease and torture him until they parted, Scorpius already knew.

"I'll hold you to that." The Slytherin grinned before stepping back under the spray of the water. Scorpius watched as Albus raised his arms to wash. He saw the boy's muscles flex with movement. He had been careful not to look before. Before they were not dating, before he had wanted to be a gentleman, wanted to know that he already had what he was going to see. If he had looked at Albus with anything more than an attempt to study the boy before this point, it would have only been to tease himself.

This was a different study all together. Not to learn, but to appreciate and to anticipate. This was a way to see everything with little interruption, only water and suds blocking his view occasionally. His eyes trailed the tan lines on his brown skin, the clear sight where his jersey ended on his arms and neck and then the even fainter line of where his pants rested on the days that Albus didn't wear a shirt outside.

"I thought we agreed that you weren't going to study me anymore."

"We agreed to nothing of the such," Scorpius smiled. Albus hadn't even opened his eyes to catch him, "I'm making sure you get completely clean before you step out of the shower. "

"Right." Albus stepped out of the shower, "Who am I to think that I would be able to keep a Ravenclaw such as yourself from trying to stud everything in our eyesight." He rolled his eyes and stepped closer to him. Albus wrapped his arms around Scorpius' waist. "But I do believe that I am clean enough."

"In the hygienic way, yes." Scorpius grinned as Albus rolled his eyes yet again.

"Why do I put up with you again?"

"Probably because of this," Scorpius leaned close and pressed his lips lightly against Albus'. He had planned for it to be just a small peck of reminder, but Albus held him close. His arms wrapped around him and Scorpius was pulled as close to Albus as he could get. He felt Albus twitch against his leg and he grinned at the thought of what could happen in this bath. It wouldn't, Scorpius wouldn't allow it to happen so soon, but the thought of it was enough for now.

His own arms warped once again around Albus' neck. This kiss was much nicer, especially since there wasn't anything sticky or orange interrupting his thoughts. This kiss was nice, because for once he was able to turn off the constant babble in his mind. He didn't worry about how long the kiss would last, how long they would last. He didn't worry about the approval of families or what they would do over breaks. He didn't worry about his N.E.W.T.s or the transfiguration essay that he was only halfway though. No, the only thing that was going through his mind was the feeling of the chapped lips against his and the anticipation of just where Albus was going to rest his hands, of where he was going to let his own hands wander.

Scorpius began to move his hands down to Albus' sides again, grinning as the boy sighed against his lips. Fingered laced in his hair and Scorpius grinned more, letting his tongue dart out to lick at Albus' lips.

Scorpius had never given much thought to the kisses he would have in his life. He wanted them, yes, but he didn't think about when or where or with whom they would happen with. He never would have guessed that his first kiss would have taken place in a bathroom. He never would have thought that his first real makeout session would happen in the same bathroom, only this time in the bath.

The water was a distraction as well. everything below his waist was warm, everything above slightly colder. As Albus' hand fisted in his hair, Scorpius couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like when they were dry.

He continued to follow Albus' lead, not questioning it when they started moving. Albus pushed him back towards the end of the tub with the sitting bench. He didn't pull away when Albus sat down, pulling him onto his lap. Scorpius just adjusted himself to a more comfortable position. Scorpius kissed Albus and Albus kissed back until Scorpius felt like he had enough for the moment and needed to pull away to properly breath.

Resting his head on Albus' shoulder, Scorpius didn't move off his lap. "I think you've taken advantage of me enough tonight."

"Not nearly," Albus breathed out.

"Greedy Slytherin."

"You like it."

And Scorpius did. He liked it a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the delay in updating! finals, moving out, and laptop deciding not to connect to the internet are my excuses. A bonus chapter to be put out by the end of the week is my apology!  
> Also good news with it being summer I can now work more on the projects I mentioned earlier. Please keep a look out for those in the future. 
> 
> Thank you for reading and reviewing!


	9. Bonus: Lily

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the bonus chapter that I promised last update!

Lily Potter had never given much thought about Scorpius Malfoy. He was a Malfoy, and that was that. She knew what the name meant, knew that their families didn't get along, knew that he was probably more trouble than he was worth. All things considered, it wasn't surprising that Albus chose him to be his partner.

Her brother liked throwing their family through loops. She had seen him burn the brightest when he was defending slytherin, had seen him at his palest when he first figured out he was gay and saw how that too eventually became another bright point for him. She saw him, like she saw everyone else, for exactly who they were. She knew when they felt most alive and, for Albus, that was when he was causing trouble.

James was the same way, but when he burned bright, everyone around him did as well. James caused a different kind of trouble. James didn't push people away, James brought them all closer.

With her arms wrapped around her brother, she stared at the boy who was walking with him. He had a very subtle pale blue surrounding him, darkening at the edges. It was very... calming. They weren't the colors she had thought would surround him. Then again, she had done her best to dim the rest of the world and only focus on the colors of those close to her.

He listened to her as she talked. It was a habit of hers to ramble, especially when she didn't know what exactly was going to happen. She knew that Albus had tuned her out almost instantly, but she could tell that Scorpius was still listening.

Eventually they got to Hagrid's and after Albus had dropped her, she instantly ran to go get the half giant.  She sighed with relief to see that Hagrid's colors weren't dulled, that he was in the proper state of mind. It worried her to no end to see his pale pink and deep red fade and blur, it worried her when his aura was just a line around him and not stretching out proudly around him.

"Albus is in a pretty decent mood today," Lily told him with a grin, "Him and Bev were bickering when I  went to get him. Ma-Scorpius ," she shook her head, she really did have to get used to using his first name "Scorpius seems nice enough. I think it should be fun today!"

"Ah, ye worry too much Lil," Hagrid laughed, his overlarge hand moving to ruffle her hair. "Come on, let's go on out then. "

As soon as they got outside, Hagrid greeted the others, telling them they were late, causing Lily to laugh behind her hand. However, all laughter drained from her as she saw Albus darken as the conversation went on, how Hagrid turned a bit more pink.  It was Scorpius that surprised her, nothing in his demeanor changed.

She looked at him closely, not knowing just what it was about this boy.  She watched as he did his best to diffuse the situation, saw how Hagrid took his complements in stride and how Scorpius listened intently to the process of magical pumpkins. She also watched as her brother stalked off to start cleaning the pumpkins for them. She saw his dark green cloud with confusion. It would be best to leave him alone to brood, she thought.

"Looks like Albus has already started," Lily smiled and grabbed Scorpius by the arm, "Come over here and help me design them!"

This was what she did best, Lily thought as she watched Scorpius look over at Albus before turning to help her. She knew when to give people space, and Albus needed that.

"I apologize for talking the entire time down here, " Lily said, though she wasn't sorry at all, "How are you doing? How's Ravenclaw?"

"I'm doing fine. It's Albus that I'd be worried about." Scorpius took out his wand and started to carve one of the pumpkins. "Why so interested in Ravenclaw? I shouldn't be worried should I?"

"Oh no! no!" Lily grinned and shook her head, "You don't have to worry about me. I was almost sorted into Ravenclaw though. Like really close. I think it's because I can read people and situations so well and am smart enough to know what to do and say to make things better. Al says that's rubbish though. He thinks I'm in Gryffindor because I'm stupid enough to meddle. Meddling, as if! I help guide people to the right decision!"  

She heard Scorpius laugh and was encouraged to continue on. "It's a shame though, if I had gotten into Ravenclaw then we would have had one in each house!"

"One in each house?"

"Yep. Teddy was in Hufflepuff, now he's writing this giant history book on the wars. Says he's gonna come back and teach when he's done though. Which is good because then history of magic might actually be fun. I swear, Teddy can make anything sound interesting. And then James was in Gryffindor. He's in the ministry now, working in the department or regulation on magical creatures and beasts. He loves his job, even though he's only an intern right now. Uncle Percy sent him dung once though. And then you know Al 's in Slytherin and I'm sure he's told you all about his plans for playing quidditch. So if I had been Ravenclaw, we would have had one in every house. But," Lily shrugged, "Gryffindor it was!"

"I didn't know you all had an older brother."

"Oh, Teddy's adopted. Dad was his god father, but both his parents died in the war. Have you really never met Teddy? I'm pretty sure he's related to you. His grandmother is your grandmother's sister I believe."

"My..." She looked over at Scorpius, saw his blue darken slightly. So there was something that got to him, Lily thought. She watched in the corner of her eye as his aura continued to get darker.

Scorpius gnawed at his lip before he continued. "But Bellatrix didn't have any children..."

"No, no! Andromeda!" Lily paused in carving to really look over at him. "Do you really not know?"

"No. I mean, we don't really talk to my father's parents. Just around Christmas and my father's birthday. They, erm, they weren't too happy with the way my parents wanted to raise me, so..."  Scorpius shrugged, but his aura was still darker than what she had seen earlier. His brow was furrowed as he carved into another pumpkin.

"Well maybe you'll be able to meet him soon then. He's usually around for all the holidays. You'll love him I know, but that's mostly because everyone loves him." she laughed, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

The silence dragged on for a couple seconds. There was the sound of bird chirping in the forest behind them  and the sound of wands slicing into pumpkins. It only lasted a minute before Lily couldn't take any more and had to continue talking, "So what are you here for?"

"Hmm?" Scorpius turned away from the new pumpkin in front of him, "I thought I was here for carving?"

"No no!" Lily laughed and shook her head, "I mean school, what are you studying, what are you going to do after?"

"Oh," Scorpius ducked his head and she swore he was trying to his a small blush of embarrassment. "I want to be a healer."

"Really? That's great! Don't you have to be good at like... everything for that though?"

"Almost, but mostly Herbology, Creatures, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense."

"Oh _just_ those," Lily laughed, "What does creatures have to do with healing though?"

"Oh lots! I mean first just think of how often you have to use some part of a creature in potions. Almost as much as you have to with Herbology. So part of it is knowing how their magical characteristics work with other potions ingredients and their effects. Then you've got an entire ward for creature related illnesses and injuries, so you have to know what each creature is capable of, what their own affects are to the human body. Then, there's healing for creatures. I think that would be pretty cool, but I'm mostly interested in the human mind. I want to work with the long term patients, I want to create something to help faulty memory charms and other mental illnesses."

"Wow, that's interesting. I had no Idea."

"Yeah," Scorpius grinned, "So what are you here for then?"

Lilly shrugged. She didn't know exactly what she wanted to do. "I'm not sure, I mean, I'm pretty average at everything, well, I'm pretty good at divination, but that's a dying class. I know they are thinking of getting rid of it."

"Why would they do that? If they were to get rid of divination then they would also have to get rid of arithmacy."

"Exactly!" Lily grinned, glad that someone got it, "I mean,  stars are just as reliable as numbers. What makes people put more faith in those when actual divination has proven to be just as, if not more, accurate!"  Lily continued to watch him out of the corner of her eye as she rambled on about divination compared to arithmacy, looking for any clues that she should change the subject or slow down.  It surprised her that he listened so well to the conversation, even adding his own thoughts to her rant.

"I could go on for another couple of hours about this Scorpius," Lily said, grinning as she sliced into a pumpkin only to find it still full, "But my brother has just given us a loaded pumpkin and I think we should give it back to him."

"Is that so?"  Scorpius asked, pausing in carving to look over at her.

"Would you like the honors?" She gestured to the pumpkin laughing as she saw him grin and brighten.

Scorpius pulled out his wand and silently levitated the pumpkin until it was hovering over Albus' head.

"Merlin, don't let me drop it," Scorpius breathed out, causing Lily to laugh and double over, picturing the pumpkin falling out of the air and trapping her brother underneath.

"I think you missed one!" Scorpius called out. Then her brother was covered in a net of pumpkin guts and seeds.

Lily knew what it was like to be in a pumpkin fight with her brother, she had seen his monsters many times. Neither her nor James knew just where he learned the spell for them. "Scorpius RUN!" She yelled out, darting into the patch.  There was her only chance of hiding from the pulp monsters. It was also her only chance of messing with her brother.

She knew there was little hope in outrunning the monsters, but she knew her brother was more focused on Scorpius. It gave her just enough time as she was darting around to turn all the craved pumpkin faces to stare down her brother. He would be watched by the pumpkin brethren while he used their own guts to attack their carvers. Suddenly she was glad that pumpkins didn't actually have feelings to influence her own.

Turning the pumpkins wasn't her only reason for running through the patch though. Her main reason was so she could get close enough to her brother for his spell to backfire on him. A small smirk formed on her face as she saw her plan was working. She knew that he'd be too focused on Scorpius to make anything of her zigzagging before it was too late and she was on him. Just as the pulp monster started to catch up to her, she tackled her brother, flinging the both of them into the leftover pulp.  Just as the landed, her monster fell upon them, completely surrounding them in the slimy orange mess.

She heard a yelp from Scorpius as he, too, was swallowed up by Albus' monster and she started to claw her way out of the mess, being sure to throw more guts at her brother.

Finally managing to get free of the mountain, Lily spun around to get the thicker wads to fly off of her. "Do it again Albie!" She grinned at him, bouncing still. The excessive good energy seeping from the three people around her influencing her hyperness.

"Do not!" Scorpius yelled, causing Lily to laugh at his exasperation. He would definitely be in for a shock if he ever got around to meeting the entire family all at once.

She threw herself back to land on the pile of guts, watching as the two boys interacted with each other, watching as their auras mixed between them at the edges. That was curious. Lily smiled widely at the two of them, knowing just what that meant.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been bad and I've got excuses, but they are not necessary. I'll write two more bonus chapters for the long wait, but the next chapter will pick up where we left off with our two boys!   
> Thank you all for reading and reviewing!


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